■ 


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GIFT   OF 
H.B.Wilson 


METHOD  AND  METHODS 

IN  THE  TEACHING 

OF    ENGLISH 


BY 


ISRAEL   EDWIN   GOLDWASSER 

PUBLIC  SCHOOLS,   NEW  YORK 


D.   C.   HEATH  &  CO.,  PUBLISHERS 
BOSTON  NEW  YORK  CHICAGO 


r.Dl 


EDUCATION  DEPT. 


COPYRIGHT,  1913, 
BY  D.  C.  HEATH  &  CO. 

IC3 


%o  mp  S^tft^et 


677797 


PREFACE 

To  affect  the  various  motives  that  may  prompt  an  author  to 
add  one  more  to  the  many  books  on  methods  of  teaching  that  are 
now  available,  there  seem  to  be  two  very  good  reasons  why  a  new 
text  on  the  teaching  of  English  may  be  deemed  unnecessary.  In 
the  first  place,  there  are  a  number  of  excellent  discussions  of  the 
general  phases  of  the  subject  and  of  special  branches,  which  are 
sound  in  principle  and  scholarly  in  analysis  of  the  material. 
Secondly,  in  these  days  when  so  much  is  said  in  favor  of  allowing 
the  initiative  of  the  teacher  to  find  full  expression,  any  book 
which  prescribes  definite  methods  of  teaching  may  be  said  to  set 
itself  against  the  trend  of  modern  theory. 

Despite  these  considerations,  however,  I  have  long  felt  that 
there  is  a  definite  need  for  the  kind  of  treatment  of  the  subjects 
connected  with  the  teaching  of  EngHsh  in  the  elementary  schools 
that  I  have  given  in  this  book.  There  is  a  real  need  of  specific 
suggestions  as  to  a  rational  mode  of  approaching  and '  developing 
the  work  in  English.  Teachers  are  everywhere  asking  for  direc- 
tions which  will  give  them  not  so  much  a  model  for  direct  imita- 
tion as  a  basis  for  intelligent  self-criticism.  This  book  aims  to 
present  a  consistent  method  of  work  in  all  the  branches  of 
elemenfery  English.  While  drawing  freely  from  the  various 
accepted  texts,  and  adopting  without  hesitation  many  valuable 
suggestions  from  teachers  and  writers  in  all  grades  of  the  work,  it 
claims  consideration  for  this  original  feature:  It  aims  to  separate 
the  teaching  of  technique  from  the  teaching  for  appreciation  and 
self-expression,  and  it  seeks  to  found  its  methods  upon  a  definite 
psychology  of  the  learning  process. 

No  attempt  has  been  made  to  exhaust  every  part  of  the  subject 
or  to  be  so  definite  as  to  make  original  thought  on  the  part  of 
the  teacher  unnecessary.     The  purpose  of  this  book  is  to  stimulate 


vi  PREFACE 

and  to  direct  the  effort  of  the  teacher,  and  to  lessen  her  work  only 
by  making  unsuccessful  experimentation  unnecessary. 

Thanks  are  due  to  Messrs.  Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Co.,  for  permission 
to  use  extracts  from  the  letters  of  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,  and  to 
Messrs.  Harper  &  Brothers  for  the  right  to  publish  parts  of  letters 
by  James  Russell  Lowell.  Much  of  the  compilation  of  devices  in 
Chapters  HI,  and  IV,  and  of  the  models  used  in  Composition  was 
done  by  Miss  Rose  A.  McManus,  formerly  my  assistant,  whose 
help  merits  cordial  appreciation.  My  thanks  are  also  due  to  Dr. 
John  H.  Haaren,  Associate  City  Superintendent  of  Schools,  New 
York,  for  valuable  suggestions. 

To  the  hundreds  of  teachers  whose  work  both  in  the  class-room 
and  in  various  texts  has  been  the  inspiration  for  all  that  is  valuable 
in  this  book,  I  submit  the  result  of  a  labor  no  less  truly  theirs 
than  my  own. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.     Reading  —  General  Considerations i 

II.     Primary  Reading 6 

III.  Primary  Reading  -  Phonics 13 

IV.  Overcoming  Defects  in  Speech 30 

V.     The  Reading  Lesson 41 

Intermediate  Grades. 

VI.     Reading  to  a  Class 49 

VII.     Study  of  the  Masterpiece 53 

VIII.     Study  of  the  Masterpiece  (continued)      ....  75 

IX.     Study  of  the  Masterpiece  {concluded)      ....  82 

X.     The  Oral  Reproduction  of  Stories 93 

XL     Memory  Gems 108 

XII.     Spelling •     .      .  119 

XIII.  Dictation •.      ...  131 

XIV.  Composition 141 

XV.     Composition  {continued) 148 

The  Study  of  Models. 

XVI.     How  THE  Model  is  to  be  used 157 

XVII.     Composition  —  Letter  Writing 163 

Models  to  be  Studied. 

XVin.     Composition  —  Narration 198 

Models  to  be  Studied. 

XIX.     Composition  —  Description       .......  211 

Models  to  be  Studied. 

XX.     Composition  —  Exposition 222 

Models  to  be  Studied. 

XXI.     The  Correction  of  Compositions 227 


viii  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

XXII.     CoMPosrriON 236 

Composition  —  Suggestions  and  Devices 

XXIII.  Grammar 242 

General  Considerations 

XXIV.  Grammar  {continued) 253 

Intermediate  Grades 

XXV.     Grammar  {concluded) 261 

Formal  Study 


THE    TEACHING    OF    ENGLISH 


I 


CHAPTER  I      ,.  :       ... 
READING  —  GENERAL   CONSIDERATIONS 


Teachers  welcome  specific  suggestions.  But  any  attempt 
to  establish,  on  the  basis  of  detailed  injunctions,  a  general  mode 
of  procedure  in  the  teaching  of  a  subject,  usually  results  in  con- 
fusion. Accordingly,  it  may  be  of  value  in  our  exposition  of 
methods  in  the  teaching  of  reading  in  the  elementary  schools,  to 
lay  down  a  few  general  principles. 

Educationally,  we  are  in  a  transitional  stage.  The  sudden 
and  bewildering  changes  effected  in  our  course  of  study,  the 
quick  shifting  from  one  system  to  another,  the  glad  welcome 
given  to  all  new  schemes  —  all  these  are  evidences  of  a  state  of 
unrest.  This  extends  not  only  to  questions  of  organization  and 
problems  of  the  curriculum,  but  to  details  of  method  as  well. 
While  such  a  condition  is  indicative  of  progress,  it  is  fatal  to  the 
teacher  who  cannot  see  the  goal  toward  which  all  these  changes 
are  tending. 

In  the  teaching  of  reading,  this  is  peculiarly  true.  Educa- 
tional reform  is  usually  the  reflex  of  some  larger  movement  in 
the  world  at  large.  In  America,  the  problem  of  assimilating 
the  varied  nationalities  entering  in  ever  increasing  numbers  has 
shaped  political,  economic,  and  educational  affairs  for  the  last 
quarter  century.  In  our  large  cities  the  teaching  of  English, 
for  example,  is  no  longer  the  teaching  of  the  mother- tongue. 
It  is  often  the  teaching  of  a  foreign  language,  and  the  problem 
is  the  difficult  one  of  giving  perfect  familiarity  with  a  language, 
practice  in  which  is  for  the  first  few  years  at  all  events  confined 
to  the  school. 


2  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

While  this  factor  has  made  the  teaching  of  reading  a  matter 
of  increasing  difficulty  in  our  urban  schools,  it  does  not  account 
for  the  complete  change  that  has  taken  place  in  our  method  of 
teaching.  Hundreds. of  years  ago,  book  knowledge  was  com- 
pletely reijiQved  from  every  day  life.  Restricted,  as  it  frequently 
was,  to  the,  member^  of  the  upper  classes,  it  did  not  give  to  them 
any  material  which  could  be  used  in  the  larger  life  outside  of  the 
church  or  the  university.  This  separation  between  real  life  and 
the  knowledge  to  be  gained  from  books  has  remained  a  char- 
acteristic of  so-called  education  through  the  centuries.  The 
distinctive  mark  of  the  learned  man  was  not  his  ability  to  handle 
men  and  affairs,  nor  his  power  to  judge  of  events,  for  the  content 
of  his  learning  was  set  utterly  apart  from  the  real  life  of  the 
times.  The  mere  clerk  was  the  educated  man;  the  man  who 
could  read  and  write,  and  who  knew  the  insides  of  books. 
Knowledge  of  the  technique  of  reading  and  writing  was  sufficient 
to  stamp  the  learned  man.  And  this  idea  permeated  so  com- 
pletely the  thought  of  the  man  as  to  shape  the  methods  of 
teaching. 

The  processes  of  reading  and  writing  may  be  reduced  to  a 
series  of  associations  repeated  so  frequently  as  to  become 
marginated  and  relegated  to  the  lower  centers,  through  which 
they  are  performed  as  habits  of  technique.  With  Quintilian, 
and  later,  during  the  period  of  the  Schoolmen  and  the  types  of 
education  dominated  by  the  narrow  humanism,  we  find  that 
reading  and  writing  were  taught  purely  along  the  lines  of  the 
mastery  of  a  technique.  In  reading,  the  letters  and  shapes  and 
their  sounds  were  first  taught.  Then  these  were  combined  into 
syllables,  syllables  into  words,  words  into  phrases,  and,  finally, 
sentences  were  formed  and  read.  Constant  repetition  led  to 
the  formation  of  habits. 

The  content  value  of  the  words  and  phrases  was  a  matter  of 
no  consequence  since  the  end  that  was  sought  was  the  ability 
to  form   instantaneous   associations  between   the   written   or 


READING  3 

printed  symbol  and  the  articulated  correlative.  So  in  writing, 
the  letters  were  first  learned  individually  by  mechanical  process, 
such  as  the  tracing  of  Quintihan,  and  when  the  pupil  became 
familiar  with  their  form,  the  same  synthetic  process  was  gone 
through  which  characterized  the  manner  of  learning  to  read. 

Nor  are  we  to  think  that  this  ruling  principle  of  method 
ceased  to  control  when  the  period  of  the  Schoolmen  and  of  the 
Humanists  came  to  an  end.  Wherever,  in  any  system  of  educa- 
tion, the  mere  ability  to  read  is  considered  the  desirable  end,  a 
synthetic,  formal  method  of  teaching  is  a  logical  result.  The 
Ward  method,  at  one  time  so  popular  in  New  York  schools,  the 
a-h-ah  method  of  the  primers  of  twenty  and  thirty  years  ago, 
the  Word  method,  the  "Look  and  Say"  method,  in  fact,  any 
method  which  starts  with  words  chosen  solely  because  of  their 
value  as  furnishing  phonic  elements  that  can  be  used  in  forming 
compounds,  is  but  a  relic  of  the  educational  ideal  which  sought 
to  attain  power  in  the  technique  of  reading. 

With  the  Renascence  came  a  different  conception  of  the 
meaning  of  a  liberal  education.  Books  came  to  be  looked  upon, 
not  as  examples  of  formal  excellence,  but,  rather,  as  the  reposi- 
tory of  the  pictures  of  life,  of  discussions  of  men  and  events, 
valued  for  their  influence  upon  life  and  character.  Although 
the  impetus  to  this  newer  idea  of  the  value  of  books  came  from 
the  Renascence  of  the  14th  and  15th  centuries,  it  did  not  exert 
its  full  force  until  several  centuries  later.  In  fact,  Montaigne 
and  Milton  were  looked  upon  as  innovators  when  they  merely 
revived  the  Renascence  ideal.  This  broader  conception  of  the 
value  of  books  was  beginning  to  spread  through  the  17  th  and 
1 8th  centuries,  but  it  was  only  in  the  19th  century,  when  a  new 
aim  was  set  up  for  the  entire  educational  process,  that  the  idea 
came  to  affect  methods  of  teaching. 

The  Herbartian  aim  of  character  with  its  accompanying 
doctrine  of  concentration,  placing  history  and  literature  at  the 
center  of  the  course  of  study,  is  probably  the  direct  cause  of  the 


4  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

new  methods  followed  in  the  teaching  of  reading.  By  itself,  it 
must  be  acknowledged,  the  Herbartian  aim  is  not  enough;  but 
when  it  was  joined  to  the  better  insight  into  child  psychology 
afforded  by  the  teaching  of  Froebel,  it  gave  rise  to  sane,  rational, 
psychological  method.  Education  is  no  longer  to  be  measured 
by  ability  to  read  or  to  write.  Books  are  no  longer  the  whet- 
stones on  which  to  sharpen  one's  instruments  of  technique. 
We  now  feel  that  the  educated  man  is  he  who  understands  the 
life  around  him,  reacts  upon  it  in  a  live  way,  thus  securing  his 
own  highest  development  through  the  fullest  cooperation  with 
his  fellow-men.  And  books  are  of  value  because  they  give  us 
the  record  of  earlier  attempts  made  by  men  to  secure  this  de- 
velopment, and  because  they  widen  our  experiences  vicariously. 
Moreover,  a  better  knowledge  of  the  psychology  of  the  child 
has  brought  us  to  realize  that  interest  is  the  key  which  opens  the 
floodgates  of  activity,  and  gives  a  maximum  return  for  energy 
expended.  Not  the  ability  to  read  and  write,  but  the  power  to 
get  from  the  content  of  books  an  experience  which  will  enable 
man  effectively  to  meet  the  conditions  of  his  environment,  is 
now  considered  the  end  of  intellectual  education.  In  our 
methods  of  teaching  we  are  seeking  to  crystallize  this  broader 
idea.  The  first  task  in  teaching  is  to  become  assured  of  the 
interest  of  the  child.  The  first  avenue  of  approach  is  through 
an  interesting  content.  The  goal  toward  which  all  our  efforts 
are  directed  is  the  power  to  render  automatic  or  to  reduce  to  the 
margin  of  consciousness  all  the  adjustments  and  coordinations 
implied  in  the  acts  of  reading  and  writing,  so  that  the  higher 
consciousness  may  be  left  free  to  bring  itself  into  completer  and 
fuller  relations  with  the  life  that  is  hidden  in  the  printed  page. 

Summary. — To  rationalize  our  methods,  we  must  lay  down 
certain  general  principles.  Methods  without  such  principles  consti- 
tute not  a  method  but  merely  a  collection  of  devices.  In  the  teach- 
ing of  English,  we  must  shape  our  procedure  in  conformity  with 
existing  conditions,    (i)  In  our  large  cities,  English  is  to-day  a  foreign 


READING  5 

tongue.  (2)  Reading  is  no  longer  valued,  (a)  as  the  power  to  call 
off  words  or  (b)  as  the  abiUty  to  explain  isolated  meanings,  but  rather 
(c)  as  the  broadening  of  experience  by  means  of  the  thought  com- 
municated through  the  printed  page.  This  change  has  come  from 
the  newer  conception  of  a  Hberal  education.  Our  knowledge  of  the 
processes  of  learning,  moreover,  shows  us  (i)  how  we  can  make  an 
interesting  content  afford  a  motive  for  acquiring  mastery  over  the 
form;  (2)  how  we  can  reduce  technique  in  reading  to  the  plane  of 
habit;  and  (3)  how  we  can  free  the  higher  consciousness  so  that 
the  reading  self  may  become  identified  with  the  self  that  is  expressed 
through  the  printed  page. 


CHAPTER  II 

PRIMARY   READING 

The  limited  experience  of  the  children  is  the  most  discouraging 
condition  confronting  the  teacher  of  primary  reading.  Here 
and  there,  with  an  exceptional  teacher,  or  where  the  physical 
conditions  are  favorable,  it  is  possible  to  supply  an  experience 
which  later  can  be  utilized  as  the  content  in  the  first  steps  of 
reading;  but  it  is  unsafe  to  base  a  method  completely  on  the 
personality  of  the  teacher  or  the  accident  of  a  favorable  physical 
environment.  Any  method,  though  it  be  never  so  perfect,  is 
but  the  carefully  adjusted  machinery,  the  motive  power  for 
which  is  the  gifted  teacher.  Many  methods  are  rightly  con- 
demned as  impracticable  because,  in  order  to  assure  success, 
they  require  unusual  ability  on  the  part  of  the  teacher.  The 
first  problem,  therefore,  must  be  to  give  to  the  children  an 
interesting  content  which  may  be  used  as  the  motive  for  the 
mastery  of  form. 

If  we  are  to  avoid  waste,  it  is  necessary  at  this  point  to  refer 
to  some  fundamental  laws  of  mental  action.  It  is  a  characteris- 
tic of  our  educational  movements  that  most  changes  take  the 
form  of  an  extreme  reaction  from  that  which  has  gone  before. 
The  intense  and  narrow  formalism  which  was  characteristic  of 
earlier  methods  in  reading,  has  given  way  to  an  emphasis  upon 
content  which  in  many  cases  has  neglected  entirely  the  necessity 
of  a  large  amount  of  formal  drill.  It  has  been  held  that  if  we 
^  will  but  present  a  subject  matter  of  deep  and  abiding  interest 
to  the  children,  it  will  make  formal  drill  unnecessary.  Probably 
the  most  consistent  exposition  of  this  theory  is  the  so-called 


PRIMARY  READING  7 

*' Newark"  method,  or  as  we  may  call  it,   "the  method  of  -» 
cumulative  repetition." 

No  habit  can  be  economically  formed  unless  its  component 
parts  have  at  some  time  been  focalized  in  consciousness;  and, 
furthermore,  no  habit  can  be  rendered  truly  automatic  unless 
there  has  been  a  large  amount  of  repetition,  and,  with  this, 
drill.  If  we  are  to  teach  reading,  and  if  we  are  to  make  the 
power  to  read  an  automatic  coordination  and  adjustment,  we 
must,  at  some  time  or  other,  make  the  formal  side  of  reading  ^ 
occupy  the  focus  of  consciousness,  and  we  must  give  due  atten- 
tion to  pure  drill  and  mere  repetition.  But  our  method  must 
dijffer  from  the  senseless  drill  of  earlier  generations  in  one  im- 
portant particular.  The  motwejmust:  come  from  a  desire  within 
the  child  aroused  by  a  strong  interest  in  some  content  which  he  . 
judges,  more  or  less  consciously,  to  be  of  value  to  him  in  his 
attempt  at  self-realization  and  self-expression.  If  the  ordinary 
environment  of  the  child  were  the  world  of  Nature,  if  classes 
were  held  in  the  fields  so  that  the  children  could  gain  approxi- 
mately the  same  kind  of  experiences,  the  desire  to  give  expression 
to  these  experiences  could  be  made  the  starting  point  of  a  vital 
method.  Unfortunately,  these  ideal  surroundings  cannot  be 
realized  in  the  classroom.  True,  the  conditions  for  them  may 
be  created  by  a  live  teacher  —  a  small  brood  of  chickens  may  be 
kept  in  the  classroom,  observed  by  the  children  for  a  week  or 
more;  a  pet  canary  or  a  tame  rabbit  may  be  fed  and  tended 
by  the  children;  beans  or  peas  may  be  planted  in  the  window 
boxes;  —  and  on  the  basis  of  these  experiences  children  may  be 
led  into  conversation  which  will  form  the  ground  work  for  the 
first  work  in  reading.  Such  a  method  has  been  followed  with 
success  by  teachers  in  many  schools. 

But  while  such  experiences  may  be  furnished  to  the  children, 
there  is  still  an  element  of  doubt  as  to  whether  we  are  interesting 
all.  And,  moreover,  a  practical  difficulty  arises  in  that  the 
words  which  may  be  natural  as  the  expression  of  the  life  the 


8  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

children  are  observing  are  not  the  words  most  desirable  as 
furnishing  the  elements  from  which  the  study  of  phonics  is  to 
proceed.  Here,  as  in  every  other  subject  of  the  course  of  study, 
our  difficulty  arises  in  the  difference  between  the  logical  and 
the  psychological  factors  entering  into  our  teaching.  From  the 
psychological  point  of  view,  we  should  aim  to  use  only  such 
words  and  sentences  and  ideas  as  grow  out  of  the  ordinary, 
interesting  experiences  of  the  child.  From  the  logical  point  of 
view,  we  should  be  careful  that  those  elements  upon  which  the 
attention  is  first  concentrated  should  be  simple,  and  should 
contain  within  themselves  parts  of  greatest  value  for  the  later 
orderly  and  systematic  development  of  the  subject. 

It  cannot  be  claimed  that  the  stories  which  form  the  basis  of 
the  cumulative-repetition  method  are  such  as  are  naturally 
expressive  of  the  experiences  of  children.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
no  story  presented  in  a  completed  form  can  ever  be  totally 
expressive  of  such  experiences.  English  work,  to  represent  the 
daily  life  of  the  pupils,  should  be  based  upon  the  objects  they 
see,  the  things  they  do,  and  the  little  adventures  they  meet  with 
when  they  are  together  as  a  class. 

It  was,  probably,  a  realization  of  the  difficulty  of  affording  a 
varied  experience  to  the  children  under  the  limitations  of  urban 
conditions,  that  led  the  originator  of  the  "Newark"  method 
to  substitute,  for  the  concrete  happenings  of  life  and  a  content 
based  upon  them,  rather  the  common  child  interests,  and  stories 
expressive  of  them.  Possibly  because  there  is  a  pleasure  afforded 
by  the  recognition  of  the  familiar,  children  seem  to  yearn  for  a 
retelling  of  old  stories.  That  which  is  entirely  new  requires 
greater  expenditure  of  nerve  energy,  and  is,  therefore,  accom- 
panied with  a  feeling  of  strained  effort;  while  to  listen  to  stories 
already  familiar  in  a  general  way  is  easy  and  calls  forth  sponta- 
neous attention.  This  is  pleasurable  since  the  self-activity  is 
directed  entirely  toward  the  object  which  occupies  the  focus  of 
consciousness. 


PRIMARY  READING  9 

Moreover,  an  instinctive  liking  for  regular  rhythm  is  charac- 
teristic of  the  child-mind.  The  crooning  which  lulls  a  child  to 
sleep  soon  becomes  a  regularly  measured  cadence.  The  child's 
street  cries  are  repeated  in  a  regular  rhythmic  accent.  It  is 
even  probable  that  the  first  steps  in  the  use  of  number  geneti- 
cally were  determined  by  the  rhymthic  sense. 

These  two  characteristics  of  the  child-mind  may,  for  our 
present  purposes,  be  considered  practically  imiversal  —  that  is, 
the  tendency  to  reduce  all  repeated  expressions  to  a  rhythmic 
cadence,  and,  secondly,  the  feeling  of  pleasure  derived  from 
listening  to  the  repetition  of  familiar  stories.  It  is  upon  these 
two  common  tendencies  of  child-nature  that  the  method  of 
cumulative  repetition  is  based. 

Of  course,  it  would  be  an  altogether  ideal  condition  if  it  were 
possible  to  combine  with  these  a  content  closely  related  to  the 
experiences  of  children.  Such  a  combination  is  not  impossible, 
but  it  would  call  for  too  great  power  of  original  creation  on 
the  part  of  the  teacher.  The  manuals  for  teachers  and  the 
primers  published  in  connection  with  these  methods,  give  a 
complete  exposition  of  all  the  steps  that  are  to  be  taken.  It 
may  be  well,  however,  to  sound  a  note  of  warning.  If  the  story, 
e.g.y  **The  Little  Red  Hen,"  is  presented  without  adequate 
preparation,  the  work  may  become  just  as  formal  as  the  most 
objectionable  of  the  synthetic  methods.  The  teacher  should 
first  make  every  possible  effort  to  awaken  the  keen  interest  of 
the  children.  Pictures  should  be  shown,  and  stories  of  the 
animals,  independent  of  the  stories  to  be  used  in  the  English 
work,  should  be  told.  Again  it  must  be  remembered  that 
while  it  is  necessary  for  the  purposes  of  the  method  to  have 
the  children  famiHar  with  the  exact  words  of  the  story,  mem- 
orizing should  not  be  made  a  set  exercise.  Because  of  the 
interest  of  the  children  in  the  repetition  of  a  story  with 
which  they  are  already  familiar,  they  may  feel  encouraged 
to  tell  and  retell  the  story.     In  this  way,  the  exact  language 


lO  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

becomes  fixed  as  a  by-product  of  their  interest  in  the  telling  of 
the  story  itself. 

One  of  the  most  valuable  features  of  the  method  is  the  demand 
it  creates  for  group  work.  The  division  of  a  class  into  sections, 
and  the  practical  disregard  of  two  sections  while  instruction  is 
carried  on  with  the  third,  makes  it  necessary  for  the  teacher  to 
provide  exercises  which  will  be  educative,  and  yet  not  too 
taxing,  which  will  call  for  accurate  work  and  yet  will  not  require 
direct  and  continual  supervision.  To  take  a  class  immediately 
upon  entering  a  school,  to  carry  on  this  story  work,  and  then  to 
throw  two-thirds  of  the  class  upon  its  resources,  invariably  leads 
to  disorder,  dissipated  attention,  or  wasted  energy  on  the  part 
of  the  teacher.  It  will  be  found  of  great  value  to  spend  the 
first  two  or  even  three  weeks  of  the  term  on  exercises  later  to  be 
used  by  the  children  in  their  unsupervised  seat  work.  These  will 
include  matching  of  colors,  splint  work  in  number,  arrangement 
of  squares,  simple  freecutting,  interlacing,  etc.  When  the  class 
has  become  reasonably  proficient,  the  teacher  will  find  that 
while  she  is  devoting  her  attention  directly  to  one  group,  she 
will  be  able  to  leave  the  other  two  groups  to  themselves,  assured 
that  they  will  know  what  to  do,  and  that  there  will  be  a  minimum 
of  waste. 

In  the  presentation  of  the  sight  words  drawn  from  the  text 
of  the  story,  every  device  which  will  secure  concentration  upon 
the  form,  and  which  will  tend  to  give  ready  recall  and  rapid 
association  between  the  recognition  of  the  visual  symbol  and 
the  right  utterance  and  articulation  of  the  word,  should  be 
employed.  It  is  not  our  purpose  to  go  into  this  method  in 
detail.  A  full  exposition  may  be  found  in  the  manuals  and 
primers  of  the  various  systems. 

The  most  important  points  are  the  presentation  of  the  story 
as  a  unit,  the  analysis  of  the  story  into  its  parts,  and  the  syn- 
thesis of  these  parts  by  the  children.  Accordingly,  when  the 
teacher  has  exhausted  the  stories  which  contain  the  element  of 


PRIMARY  READING  ii 

cumulative  repetition  and  rhythmic  sense-appeal,  it  is  still 
necessary  to  select  complete  stories.  These  must  be  short, 
interesting,  adapted  to  the  powers  of  the  children,  and  capable 
of  division  into  unit  incidents  or  episodes.  The  method  to  be 
followed  in  the  first  presentation  of  these  stories  will  vary. 
Frequently,  it  is  good  to  take,  in  a  lower  grade,  as  a  story  told 
by  the  teacher  and  retold  by  the  children,  one  that  in  a  later 
grade  will  be  presented  to  the  children  in  printed  form  for  their 
reading.  Their  familiarity  with  the  idea  of  the  story  will  tend 
to  give  them  the  interest  in  it,  and,  furthermore,  will  help  to 
keep  the  story  a  unit  though  the  reading  of  it  may  be  scattered 
over  a  number  of  lessons.  Again,  the  story  may  be  presented 
orally  in  the  two  or  three  lessons  preceding  that  in  which  it  is 
taken  up  in  the  class.  In  the  higher  grades,  it  may  be  found 
possible  to  have  it  read  by  the  children  at  home,  and  then  to 
have  discussion  in  the  classroom,  clearing  up  difficulties.  If  the 
choice  has  been  good,  this  presentation  will  insure  the  interest 
that  is  necessary  for  the  fullest  exercise  of  the  self-activity 
of  the  pupils. 

The  children  must  give  expression  to  the  ideas  which  have 
been  aroused  by  the  first  presentation  of  the  story,  and  must, 
by  their  method  of  reading,  show  their  appreciation  of  the 
thought.  Accordingly,  it  is  indispensable  that  the  teacher, 
after  having  presented  the  words,  taught  their  pronunciation, 
and  explained  or  developed  their  meaning,  return  to  the  content 
of  the  story  so  that  the  children  have  their  attention  directed 
to  that  which  should  be  the  fountainhead  of  all  their  activity 
—  an  interest  in  the  content  of  the  story  itself.  How  this 
process  works  out  in  the  reading  lesson  of  the  higher  grades  will 
be  shown  later. 

Summary. — An  interesting  content  must  be  secured  to  supply 
motive  for  the  mastery  of  form,  but  the  habits  involved  in  the  read- 
ing process  must  be  specifically  focused  upon.  We  cannot  get  va- 
ried personal  experiences  in  the  ordinary  environment  of  the  child. 


12  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

Therefore,  we  use  stories  relying  upon  two  interests:  (i)  Interest 
in  the  familiar.  The  stories  are  presented  orally  before  they  are 
taken  up  in  the  book.  (2)  The  love  of  rhythmic  cadence.  Stories 
involving  cumulative  repetition  have  been  found  most  suitable. 

The  sequence  of  the  episodes  of  the  stories  must  be  made  famiHar 
to  the  child.  The  parts  are  taken  up  singly  and  are  read  practically 
from  memory.  Words  are  isolated,  recombined  into  new  settings, 
and  later  made  the  basis  for  phonetic  study. 


CHAPTER  III 
PRIMARY  READING  — PHONICS 

Up  to  the  present  point,  we  have  been  treating  the  subject 
as  if  the  children  were  continually  to  be  under  direction  in  the 
process  of  reading,  and  as  if  the  only  aim  of  reading  were  to 
arrive  at  an  appreciation  of  the  content  of  stories,  themselves 
of  vital  interest  to  the  children.  After  all,  however,  an  equally 
important  aim  of  the  teaching  of  reading  is  to  make  the  children 
independent  in  their  attack  upon  the  difficulties  of  the  printed 
page,  and  efficient  in  extracting  the  pith  of  the  thought  from 
the  contents  of  a  book.  And  it  is  to  this  training  toward  inde- 
pendence in  reading  that  we  must  now  direct  our  attention. 

It  is  imnecessary  to  enter  into  any  discussion  of  the  difficulties 
presented  in  English  reading.  The  number  of  symbols  which 
go  to  form  the  words  in  the  language  is  much  less  than  the  total 
number  of  sounds  found  in  our  words.  Moreover,  certain 
combinations  of  letters  instead  of  having  a  fixed  pronunciation, 
correspond  to  as  many  as  four  and  even  five  different  sounds. 
The  form  of  a  word,  therefore,  is  not  the  key  to  the  pronuncia- 
tion. If  it  were,  it  would  be  an  extremely  easy  matter  to  make 
the  child  entirely  independent  in  his  reading.  Still,  while  there 
are  all  these  difficulties,  they  serve  only  to  make  more  serious 
the  problem  of  the  teacher,  for,  in  any  event,  the  result  must  be 
the  same.  The  children  must  be  given  power  to  approach  a 
new  text  and  to  read  it  with  confidence,  fluency,  and  correctness. 
This  power  cannot  be  developed  from  the  inner  consciousness 
of  the  child.  It  is  an  automatic  reaction  which  will  follow 
upon  much  practice  initiated  by  imitation. 

In  many  methods,  it  seems  to  be  felt  that  independence  stands 
unalterably  opposed  to  assistance  from  the  teacher,  and  that 


14  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

every  device  may  legitimately  be  resorted  to  if  only  the  direct 
setting  of  a  model  for  pronunciation,  by  the  teacher,  be  avoided. 
To  this  end,  devices  of  many  sorts  have  been  adopted.  Elabo- 
rate systems  of  diacritical  marks  are  used  and  learned  by  the 
pupils  so  that  new  words  need  only  be  presented  in  this  arbitrary 
system  of  markings  to  enable  the  children  to  pronounce  the 
words.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  however,  this  is  not  independence 
in  reading.  In  the  beginning,  the  teacher  was  compelled  to 
present  these  marks,  explain  their  meaning,  give  the  sound  of 
the  vowel  or  the  consonant  indicated  by  the  mark  in  question, 
have  the  children  imitate  this  sound  and  associate  it  with  the 
particular  mark  taught,  and  then  make  this  association  auto- 
matic by  almost  endless  drill.  When,  finally,  the  pupil  has 
mastered  the  system  of  marking,  he  applies  this  automatic 
association  in  the  pronunciation  of  new  words.  In  reality,  he 
is  not  independent,  for  he  is  relying  at  every  turn  upon  an 
artificial  system  of  symbols,  the  interpretation  of  which  was 
made  clear  to  him  only  after  much  drill.  Even  when  the  pupil 
is  reading  a  word  diacritically  marked,  the  teacher,  though 
actually  silent,  is  really  dictating  the  pronunciation  of  that  word 
to  him,  and  giving  him  a  direct  model  for  imitation.  For  the 
diacritical  marks  are  just  as  much  a  dictation  to  the  child,  on 
the  basis  of  his  past  experience  with  their  interpretation  and 
meaning,  as  would  be  the  utterance  of  the  word  by  the  teacher. 
If  our  books  were  so  printed  as  to  retain  the  diacritical  marks, 
if  every  word  appeared  with  the  symbols  necessary  to  indicate 
its  right  sound,  then  the  use  of  such  symbols  might  be  defensible; 
but  the  confessed  purpose  even  of  the  ardent  supporters  of  this 
method  is  to  do  away  with  the  marking  as  soon  as  may  be 
practicable.  May  it  not,  therefore,  rightly  be  asked,  "If  the 
purpose  is  to  dispense  with  the  marks  eventually,  why  should 
they  be  taught  at  all,  especially  if  the  same  results  can  be 
achieved  without  the  use  of  markings?  " 

What  substitute  have  we  then  to  offer  for  the  teaching  of 


PRIMARY  READING  — PHONICS  15 

diacritical  marks?  In  the  so-called  "  content-to-form  "  methods, 
a  mode  of  procedure  like  the  following  is  adopted.  From  the 
unit  of  the  story  and  the  smaller  unit  of  an  independent  episode 
or  incident,  the  teacher  selects  a  number  of  sight  words.  These 
are  associated  with  the  object  they  represent,  and  with  their 
significance  in  the  story  already  known  to  the  children.  The 
children  see  the  symbol,  hear  the  sound,  know  the  object,  and 
feel  its  place  in  the  story.  The  fixing  of  the  word  and  the  render- 
ing automatic  of  its  recognition  by  the  child,  call  for  the  greatest 
ingenuity  on  the  part  of  the  teacher.  In  general,  we  may  say 
that  the  principle  of  multiple-sense  teaching  will  be  found  most 
helpful,  and  that  with  greater  emphasis  on  motor  and  articula- 
tory  expression,  the  desired  end  will  more  readily  be  achieved. 
A  large  picture  of  a  horse  may  be  mounted  on  a  chart  under 
which  might  be  written  these  sentences: 

See  my  horse. 
It  is  a  large  horse. 
My  horse  has  four  feet. 

The  children  could  then  be  given  envelopes  containing  cut-out 
words.  They  spread  the  cards  on  the  desk  and  rearrange  the 
cards  so  as  to  reproduce  the  three  sentences  on  the  chart.  Other 
exercises  of  a  similar  sort  could  be  used. 

When  fifty  or  more  words  are  completely  known  at  sight, 
these  methods  call  for  the  work  in  phonics  which  is  the  first 
step  toward  making  the  children  independent.  All  phonic 
elements  are  studied  analytically  from  sight  words  previously 
learned.  In  the  selection  of  the  first  word,  the  teacher  is  asked 
to  bear  in  mind  that  the  sounds  first  taught  are  to  be  "those 
most  easily  formed,  those  most  readily  prolonged,  and,  finally, 
those  most  useful  in  the  formation  of  new  words."  At  this 
point,  one  of  two  methods  is  usually  followed.  The  teacher  may 
take  up  a  single  word  and  analyze  its  sounds;  then,  in  another 
period,  take  up  another  word,  similarly  analyzing,  and,  finally, 


i6  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

proceed  to  a  combination,  where  possible,  of  the  parts  learned 
from  the  two  words.  This  method  is  explained  in  the  following 
excerpt  from  "Outlines  of  Phonic  Lessons"  by  Miss  McClosky; 

"The  teacher  writes  the  word  'man'  on  the  blackboard  and 
has  the  children  name  it.  She  asks  the  class  to  listen  sharply 
while  she  says  the  word  slowly.  The  teacher  pronounces  the 
word  slowly  and  more  slowly  until  she  has  separated  the  word 
into  m-an.  The  pupils  are  then  asked  if  they  can  say  it  as  the 
teacher  did.  Volunteers  are  allowed  to  try,  and  when  several  have 
succeeded,  the  teacher  asks  who  can  give  the  first  part,  m,  alone; 
the  second  part,  an.  The  next  step  is  to  associate  the  sounds 
they  have  heard  and  made  with  the  letters  which  represent  these 
sounds.  The  teacher  takes  a  piece  of  stiff  paper  or  cardboard 
and  covers  an,  telling  the  pupils  that  she  is  showing  the  part 
that  tells  them  to  make  the  first  sound  m.  Then  she  covers  the 
letter  m  and  the  children  make  the  second  sound,  an.  Beginning 
with  the  best  in  the  group,  each  child  then  sounds  m-an  and 
pronounces  the  word.  If  this  is  correctly  done  on  the  first 
trial,  the  pupil  returns  to  his  seat.  If  a  mistake  is  made,  the 
pupil  waits  to  try  again  after  the  others  have  succeeded.  It  is 
important  that  each  pupil  should  sound  the  word  correctly. 
No  concert  work  should  be  allowed.  The  words  are  not  divided 
on  the  blackboard.  The  temporary  divisions  are  made  by 
covering  part  of  the  word  to  concentrate  attention  upon  the 
other  part." 

In  a  similar  way  a  new  word,  like  rat  for  example,  is  taken  up, 
and  from  these  two,  ran,  mat,  at,  and  am  may  be  taught.  Then 
the  number  of  phonic  words  is  increased  as  the  children  show 
more  and  more  facility  in  analyzing  and  combining.  Hand  in 
hand  with  this  goes  instruction  in  writing,  the  children  merely 
copying  the  forms  of  the  entire  words  as  they  recall  them;  and 
so,  in  one  or  two  weeks,  after  this  work  has  been  begun,  the 
children  are  able  to  write  words  which  they  form  themselves. 

It  is  to  be  noted  that  in  this  method  the  word  as  a  written  or 


f 


PRIMARY  READING  —  PHONICS  17 

printed  symbol  is  always  presented  to  the  children  as  a  unit, 
that  the  analysis  is  purely  mental,  and  that  where  the  elements 
are  isolated,  they  appear  not  as  parts  of  words  but  on  separate 
phonic  charts.  In  the  first  part  of  the  process,  the  complete 
word  is  the  first  utterance.  In  the  second,  the  complete  word  is 
the  last  utterance.  That  is,  in  forming  the  new  word  ran^  the 
children  say  r-an^  ran.  By  using  the  single  sounds,  m,  r,  t,  /,  w^ 
hj  b,  p,  ly  s,  k,  and  the  group  sounds,  an,  at,  ail,  ire,  ill,  orn,  at,  ig, 
ay,  oon,  ing  —  in  other  words,  by  using  twenty-two  phonic 
elements,  this  method  gives  to  the  children  the  power  to  read 
151  phonic  words. 
A  second  method  may  be  described  as  follows: 
A  series  of  words  like  man,  ran,  can,  fan,  pan,  may  be  sounded 
by  the  teacher  and  written  on  the  board  in  a  single  column. 
The  teacher  pronounces  the  words  over  and  over  again,  pointing 
to  each  word  as  she  pronounces  it.  She  then  calls  upon  the 
children  to  tell  what  sound  they  notice  is  the  same  in  all  the 
words.  All  guessing  is  discouraged,  and  if  the  children  do  not 
succeed  at  first,  the  teacher  goes  over  the  list  again  and  again, 
each  time  accenting  the  group-sound,  an,  as  separate  from  its 
initial  consonant. 

When  a  child  has  identified  and  recognized  the  common 
sound,  the  teacher  asks  the  children  to  watch  as  she  writes  the 
words  once  more  on  the  board.  She  then  reproduces  the  list  of 
words,  this  time,  however,  writing  the  word  very  large  and  mak- 
ing a  little  wider  space  between  the  initial  consonant  and  the 
final  group-sound,  without,  however,  disturbing  the  integrity 
of  the  word.  She  calls  upon  a  bright  child  to  find  some  part 
of  the  word  which  is  seen  to  be  common  to  all  the  words.  A 
circle  is  placed  around  the  group-sound,  usually  with  colored 
chalk.  The  teacher  asks  once  more  for  the  sound  that  is  com- 
mon to  the  words,  and  tells  the  children  that  the  part  of  the 
word  enclosed  in  the  circle  is  represented  by  the  sound  which 
they  have  recognized  as  being  common  to  all  the  words. 


i8  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

In  a  similar  way,  at  a  succeeding  lesson,  the  sound  at  may  be 
isolated,  identified,  recognized,  and  associated  with  its  symbol. 
A  return  is  then  made  to  the  word  matij  and  by  the  method  of 
separation  already  described,  the  sound  m  is  isolated.  From 
this  point  on,  the  combination  proceeds  as  it  does  in  all  purely 
phonic  methods.  The  essential  point  of  difference  is  that  the 
initial  sound  is  presented  not  as  the  result  of  an  articulatory 
separation  by  the  teacher,  but  as  the  result  of  a  process  of 
comparison  and  discrimination  on  part  of  the  children. 

An  analysis  of  the  principles  followed  by  the  authors  of  a 
typical  phonic  system  of  reading  may  help  to  a  better  under- 
standing of  how  interest  in  content  may  be  maintained  while  a 
scientific  development  of  words  on  the  basis  of  phonic  elements 
is  carried  on  in  the  first  year.  The  following  quotations  from 
the  preface  ^  will  make  clear  the  theory. 

**The  purpose  of  the  book  is  not  to  gain  memorized  reading, 
but  to  acquire  independence  through  power  in  phonics." 

"Diacritical  marks  are  avoided  when  possible.  They  tend  to 
confuse  the  child,  and  are  not  seen  in  the  books  which  he  desires 
to  read." 

"There  should  be  a  many-sided  presentation  and  a  many- 
sided  development.  The  work  should  include,  therefore,  much 
more  than  phonics.  Phonics  lead  to  word-getting;  words  lead 
to  thoughts;  thoughts  to  character;  and  character  to  service- 
giving." 

"The  reading  should  be  accompanied  by  plays  and  games  and 
other  pleasurable  devices.  Joy  in  action  is  the  keynote  of  the 
children's  rhythmical  progress." 

"On  entering  school,  the  child  brings  with  him  a  stock  of 
nature  facts  and  thoughts.  The  reading  in  this  book  is  based 
on  Finger  Plays  which  embody  some  of  these  thoughts;  and 
these  Finger  Plays  are  favorites  in  many  kindergartens.  This 
book  has,  therefore,  for  its  foundation,  rhymes  which  are  easily 
1  Finger-Play  Reader.     D.  C.  Heath  &  Co. 


PRIMARY  READING  — PHONICS  19 

learned  if  not  already  known;  and  rhymes  of  which  there  is  but 
one  version." 

"As  a  Nature  Reader,  its  purpose  is  not  to  give  information, 
but  to  teach  the  child  to  express  that  which  he  already  knows. 
The  purpose  of  nature-work  is,  above  all,  to  lead  the  child  into 
the  loving-relations  which  he  should  hold  with  the  outside  world. 
The  material  used  is  near  at  hand,  for  a  flower,  a  sparrow,  or  a 
dog  is  closer  to  a  child  than  the  table  at  which  he  sits." 

The  selection  of  the  phonic  elements  in  a  carefully  graded 
series  is  the  first  concern  of  the  makers  of  this  book.  They 
next  select  words  which  use  these  elements.  The  introduction, 
however,  is  by  means  of  pictures  or  the  objects  themselves,  and 
aims  to  supply  the  children  with  a  content  the  expression  of 
which  will  be  found  in  the  text  of  the  first  book.  For  instance, 
the  first  lesson  on  the  bee,  together  with  the  pictures  with  which 
the  book  is  plentifully  supplied,  will  lead  to  the  expression  of  the 
following  experiences  indicated  in  the  Teacher's  Edition. 

"i.  The  Bee's  Work:  Collecting  the  honey;  collecting  the  pollen 
which  he  packs  into  the  pocket  shown  on  the  hind  leg;  kneading  the 
bee-bread  for  the  food  of  the  babies;  the  home-building  made  of  the 
wax  which  exudes  from  the  bee's  body;  the  nursing  of  the  children; 
and  the  service  to  the  queen. 

2.  The  Bee's  Character:  The  bee  is  a  queen  who  must  preserve 
her  colony,  or  an  industrious  worker,  or  a  drone. 

3.  The  Bee's  Appearance:  Four  wings,  six  legs,  big  eyes,  and  hairy 
body. 

4.  Man's  Industry  in  connection  with  the  bee." 

The  motor-activity  of  the  children  is  employed  by  securing 
correlation  between  the  free,  swinging  movements  in  writing, 
and  with  various  forms  of  Finger  Play  exercises. 

The  method  of  developing  the  first  sound  is  indicated  in  these 
directions  to  the  teachers. 

"Let  the  children  separate  the  sight  word  just  gained  into  its  pho- 
nograms: bee,  b  ee.    Now  write  on  the  blackboard  for  phonic  practice: 


20 


THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 


b 

ee 

s 

bee 

bee 

b  ee  s 

bee 

b  ee  hive 

b  ee  hive 

bees 

b  ees 

bees 

beehive 

Let  the  class  sound  these  words  together.  Help  them  if  neces- 
sary. Do  not  let  the  class  say  the  words.  After  each  sounding, 
let  volimteers  tell  the  word. 

Alwoi^s  supplement  written  blend  by  oral  blend.  For  instance, 
for  b  we  should  give  familiar  words  by  lip-motion,  letting  the  chil- 
dren guess  them;  as,  b  oy,  b  ite^  b  ack,  b  oot,  b  ill,  etc. 

For  the  phonogram  ee :   s  ee,  tr  ee,  fr  ee,  kn  ee,  etc. 
.    For  the  phonogram  s :  boy  s,  girl  s,  pin  s,  needle  s,  eye  s. 

For  purpose  of  quick  review,  square  tables  and  linear  tables 
of  the  phonic  work  are  prepared. 


Square  Tables 

ab 

eb 

ib 

6 
ob 

u 
ub 

a 
abe 

e 

ebe 

1 
ibe 

0 

obe 

ube 

ac 
ad 
af 

ec 
ed 
ef 

ic 
id 
if 

oc 
o.d 
of 

uc 
ud 
uf 

ace 
ade 
afe 

ece 
ede 
efe 

ice 
ide 
ife 

oce 
ode 
ofe 

uce 
ude 
ufe 

ag 

ack 

al 

eg 

eck 

el 

ig 

ick 

il 

og 

ock 

ol 

ug 

uck 

ul 

age 
ake 
ale 

ege 
eke 
ele 

ige 
ike 
ile 

oge 
oke 
ole 

uge 
uke 
ule 

am 

em 

im 

om 

um 

ame 

eme 

ime 

ome 

ume 

an 

en 

in 

on 

un 

ane 

ene 

ine 

one 

une 

ap 

as 
at 

ep 
es 
et 

ip 
is 
it 

op 

OS 

ot 

up 

US 

ut 

ape 
ase 
ate 

epe 
ese 
ete 

ipe 
ise 
ite 

ope 
ose 
ote 

upe 
use 
ute 

av 

ev 

iv 

ov 

uv 

ave 

eve 

ive 

ove 

uve 

a 

S 

I 

6 

ii 

are 

ere 

ire 

ore 

ure 

an 

en 

in 

on 

un 

ang 
ank 

eng 
enk 

ing 
ink 

ong 
onk 

ung 
unk 

PRIMARY  READING  —  PHONICS 


21 


br 
cr 
dr 
fr 

gr 
pr 
tr 


ber  sp 

ker  st 

der  sc 

fer  spr 

ger  str 

per  scr 

ter  sm 

mer  sn 
ner 


bl 
cl 

dl 
fl 
gl 
pl 

si 
tl 


Linear  Tables 

ble 
cle 
die 
fle 
gle 
pie 
tie 
sle 
tie 


ou  ow 

oi    oy 

ai    ay 

ey 

ea    ee 

ie 

ew  oo 

ew  u 

er    ir 

ur 

ow  o 

ook  ood  ould 

wh 
th 
ch 
sh 


ver 
ler 
her 
all      aw     ight     old     other     any     ind     ful     or     ar     y     w 

In  a  note,  the  authors  say: 

"It  is  not  expected  that  the  children  will  know  the  above  phono- 
grams perfectly  by  the  end  of  the  term,  but  they  will  have  a  very 
good  general  and  unconfused  idea  of  them,  and  will  be  able  to  apply 
them,  if  the  directions  have  been  followed,  page  by  page." 

Any  system  of  the  class  represented  by  this  reader  is  based 
upon  a  logical  development  of  the  phonic  elements  in  the  lan- 
guage. An  attempt  is  made  to  secure  a  content  on  a  level  with 
the  children's  experiences.  The  necessary  drill  is  secured 
through  the  repetition  of  words  learned,  and  there  results  a 
steady  growth  in  the  power  of  the  children  to  attack  the  printed 
page. 

Whatever  method  is  followed,  in  order  that  there  shall  be 
growth  in  power,  every  phonic  element  should  be  applied  to  the 
formation  of  new  words  immediately  after  it  has  been  learned. 
Indiscriminate  concert  work  should  be  avoided.  In  the  teaching 
of  reading  it  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  aim  is  not  a  general 
average  of  class  excellence  but  a  power  inherent  in  every  indi- 


2  2  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

vidual  to  visualize  the  symbol  and  give  it  the  right  value.  Many 
cases  of  defective  enunciation  and  articulation  have  grown  up 
merely  because  they  have  become  fixed  through  constant 
repetition  in  concert  work,  without  instant  correction  by  the 
teacher. 

In  the  synthetic  part  of  the  phonic  work,  actual  words  only 
should  be  formed,  and  wherever  possible,  each  word  should  be 
made  concrete  by  a  picture,  a  dramatic  representation,  or  some 
other  device.  In  presenting  phonic  elements,  the  child  should 
never  be  helped  by  having  the  word  completely  pronounced  for 
him.  The  aim  is  to  develop  independence.  The  sooner  he  is 
made  to  rely  upon  his  own  power  of  combination,  the  more 
readily  will  he  acquire  self-reliance  in  attacking  difficulties. 

The  teacher  should  never  permit  the  voices  of  the  children  to 
assimie  a  shrill  or  strained  tone.  In  many  primary  classes  the 
phonic  words  are  given  in  a  shouting,  screaming  voice  which 
may  injure  the  vocal  cords,  and  which,  undoubtedly,  has  much 
to  do  with  the  artificial  tone  children  adopt  in  their  reading 
lessons.  As  soon  as  possible  the  teacher  should  note  individual 
peculiarities  of  utterance  and  give  special  work  to  overcome 
defects. 

Too  frequently  when  teachers  discover  a  child  unable  to 
enunciate  some  particular  sound  correctly,  time  is  wasted  by 
giving  him  over  and  over  again  a  model  for  imitation.  Errors 
in  enunciation  are  due  to  one  or  more  of  three  causes,  i.  There 
may  be  some  defect  of  hearing  which  prevents  the  child  from 
getting  the  right  sound  of  the  word.  2.  The  child  may  not  be 
concentrating  sufficiently  upon  the  exercise,  and  so  may  not 
succeed  in  getting  a  clear  idea  of  the  sound.  3.  There  may  be 
some  malformation  or  defect  in  the  parts  of  the  mouth  con- 
cerned with  the  enunciation.  It  will  readily  be  seen  that  the 
mere  repetition  of  the  sound  by  the  teacher  does  not  tend  to 
overcome  the  difficulty  created  by  any  one  of  these  three  causes. 
If  there  is  a  defect  in  hearing,  the  child  is  a  fit  subject  for  the 


PRIMARY  READING  —  PHONICS  23 

physician's  care.  If  there  is  a  lack  of  proper  concentration,  it 
is  because  the  child  does  not  find  sufficient  interest  in  the  work; 
and  the  cure  Ues  not  in  repetition  but  in  better  motivation. 
If  the  fault  is  with  the  organs  of  utterance,  the  child  should  be 
taught  the  right  placing  of  the  parts  of  the  mouth,  rather  than 
the  mere  aural  impression  of  the  word.  If,  by  direct  observa- 
tion, children  can  be  led  properly  to  dispose  of  the  tongue,  etc., 
in  the  utterance  of  a  particular  sound,  they  will  correct  errors 
in  less  time  and  with  less  energy  than  if  they  were  to  try  to 
imitate  a  sound.  A  mirror  for  the  pupil  is  better  than  a  model 
by  the  teacher. 

It  will  be  found,  moreover,  that  deep  breathing  exercises  will 
frequently  cure  cases  of  stammering  or  stuttering,  and  that 
insistence  on  correct  physical  posture  will  give  good  results  in 
phonics.  Frequently,  the  children  will  tend  to  develop  a  habit 
of  silent  lip  movement.  Rapid  recognition  is  the  desired  end, 
and  as  soon  as  possible  the  silent  lip  movement  should  be 
entirely  stopped. 

A  number  of  devices  may  be  of  help  in  connection  with  various 
parts  of  this  work.  In  order  to  develop  speed  in  recognition 
and  in  utterance  of  phonic  words,  this  exercise  may  be  used : 

A  ladder  may  be  drawn,  between  the  rungs  of  which  are  written 
a  number  of  syllables  or  words  containing  the  vowel  upon  which 
the  drill  is  to  be  had.  The  children  then  run  up  and  down  the 
ladder  pronouncing  the  syllables  in  their  turn.  A  variation  of 
this  is  to  have  the  syllables  written  under  one  another,  and  to 
make  such  a  drawing  as  to  make  the  syllables  appear  on  the 
steps  of  a  flight  of  stairs. 

It  is  important  that  the  children  shall  be  made  independent 
as  early  as  possible.    The  following  exercise  is  suggested : 

The  teacher  writes  a  phonogram,  as  ing,  and  asks  the  children 
to  add  some  letter  or  letters  to  it  so  as  to  form  a  word.  "  Suppose 
we  write  the  letter  5  before  ing,  what  word  would  we  form?" 
In  making  the  blend,  the  children  should  pronounce  the  added 


24  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

letter  first,  then  the  phonogram.  They  should  make  the  com- 
bination or  the  blend  with  no  assistance  from  the  teacher.  As 
many  words  as  possible  should  be  formed,  the  teacher  rejecting 
those  combinations  which  do  not  form  real  words.  In  this 
device  it  will  be  found  valuable  to  associate  all  those  phono- 
grams which  have  the  same  vowel  element.  For  example,  when 
the  entire  list  of  ing  words  has  been  written,  a  list  of  the  ig  family, 
and  then  that  of  the  ick,  and  that  of  the  ill  should  be  formed. 

In  some  of  the  compound  phonograms  (compound  sounds 
taught  as  a  unit)  it  will  be  necessary  to  give  devices  in  order 
to  insure  correct  pronunciation.  For  example,  the  wh  sound 
originally  appeared  in  words  in  the  English  language  in  the  form 
hw.  The  sound  may  be  taught  to  children  by  having  them  place 
the  lips  in  position  for  the  w  and  enunciating  h  at  the  same  time; 
that  is  to  say,  pronouncing  first  the  h  and  then  the  w.  It  will 
also  be  necessary  to  show  the  effect  of  the  adding  of  e  in 
changing  the  pronunciation  of  word  phonograms;  thus  slid 
becomes  slide;  not  becomes  note;  cut,  cute;  at,  ate;  hit,  bite; 
mat,  mate ;  etc.  There  should  be  careful  drill  on  this  phase  of 
the  work. 

An  interesting  variation  in  the  work  will  be  found  if  the 
teacher  occasionally  in  telling  a  story  will  here  and  there  give 
the  elements  or  the  sounds  of  a  word  instead  of  the  word  itself. 
The  child  guesses  what  the  word  is  either  from  the  context  or 
from  the  motion  of  the  teacher's  lips. 

In  the  Johnny  story  of  Mrs.  Pollard,  an  ingenious  attempt  has 
been  made  to  associate  the  single  sound  with  concrete  objects. 
For  example,  5  is  called  the  snake  sound;  /,  the  watch  sound; 
w,  the  lip  or  wind  sound;  th  aspirate,  the  hissing  goose  sound; 
th  sub-vocal,  the  sound  of  the  mill  wheel;  ow  and  ou,  the  hurt 
or  the  cr3dng  sound. 

The  sound  is  introduced  through  the  medium  of  a  story. 
The  child  is  told  about  Fannie  visiting  Frank  in  the  coimtry. 
Because  Frank  was  a  good  boy,  his  father  had  given  him  many 


PRIMARY  READING  —  PHONICS  25 

pets.  Frank  was  very  proud  of  these,  and  so  he  took  Fannie  to 
see  the  chickens,  the  ducks,  etc.,  and  at  last  brought  her  to  the 
barn  where  the  old  mother-cat  made  a  home  for  her  little  kittens. 
The  mother  did  not  want  company  that  morning  and  when 
Fannie  took  one  of  the  little  kittens  in  her  arms,  the  old  cat 
became  very  cross,  ciurved  her  back,  opened  her  mouth  and 
said,  /-/-/.  The  children  will  enjoy,  first,  listening  to  the  story 
and  then  reproducing  it,  and  the  sound  will  be  impressed  upon 
their  minds.  The  story  is  continued  on  succeeding  days.  For 
instance,  the  cow  was  standing  near  the  fence.  When  Frank 
stroked  her  head,  she  showed  how  she  liked  it  by  saying,  m-m-m. 
In  the  same  way  the  rest  of  the  story  may  be  told.  In  addition 
to  the  equivalent  sounds  given  above,  we  may  add  the  following: 

The  angry  dog  says,  r-r-r.  When  the  hot  horse-shoe  fell  into 
the  pail  of  water  it  said,  s-s-s.  After  the  race,  Fannie  was  out 
of  breath  and  said,  h-h-h.  When  the  saw  cut  the  log,  it  said, 
n-n-n.  The  lazy  engine  said,  p-p-p.  When  the  baby  tried  to 
talk,  it  said  b-b-b.  The  broken  bell  said,  l-l-l.  The  angry  bee 
said,  z-z-z.  When  the  cherry  pit  stuck  in  Frank's  throat,  he 
said,  k-k-k.  When  the  baby  was  asleep,  mother  said,  sh-sh-sh. 
When  the  locomotive  had  a  heavy  load  to  pull,  it  said,  ch-ch-ch. 

After  the  sounds  are  taught  and  words  are  formed  with  them, 
the  children  may  be  encouraged  to  form  as  many  words  as  they 
can  think  of  which  rhyme  with  the  type  words  given  by  the 
teacher.  This  exercise  may  be  given  increased  value  by  hav- 
ing children  in  somewhat  higher  grades  give  sentences  with  the 
rhyming  word  that  they  have  just  discovered. 

"Let  us  make  some  lines  about  colors.  You  may  put  in  the 
last  word." 

When  the  green  grass  in  the  field  is  cut  down, 
Then  it  is  hay,  and  its  color  is . 

Gold  is  yellow,  and  silver  is -. 

What  is  the  color  of  the  stars  at  night? 


26 


THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 


When  to  your  father  a  letter  you  write, 
The  ink  is  black  and  the  paper . 

Pinks  are  growing  in  the  garden  bed. 

Do  you  think  you  can  tell  their  color  from ? 

Now  see  if  you  can  tell  what  letters  are  left  out  in  these  lines: 

old 


class 
gr — 
gl— 
P 


town 

d 

cr 

br — 


g— 
fa- 
fall 
w — 
b— 
st— 


blows 

gr 

cr 

fl 

sing 
spr — 

br 

str 


pink 
th— 
dr— 
1 

wife 
str— 

I 

kn— 


school 

sp 

St 

c 

slate 

h 

sk 

d 


play 

c 

s 

de- 


place 

1 

f 

gr 

r 


name 
f 

g 

1 

night 

f 

fr 

br 


sheen 

s 

k 

spl — 

kind 

m 

beh— 

f 

gr 


In  order  to  have  the  children  discriminate  properly  between 
words  of  similar  spelling  but  difEerent  pronunciation,  have  an 
exercise  like  the  following: 

Ask  the  children  to  pronounce  the  words  in  "ough"  Hke  the  ital- 
icized word  in  the  same  sentence  or  group  of  sentences. 

1.  My  doughty  cow  was  struck  fast  in  a  slough  near  the  plough. 

2.  One  or  two  cups  of  water  may  cure  your  hiccoughs. 


PRIMARY  READING  —  PHONICS  27 

3.  Say  "as  if"  rather  than  "as  though."  Though  is  a  shortened 
form  of  although  and  should  be  so  used.     Knead  your  dough  lightly. 

4.  The  cat  sprang  off  the  trough  with  a  loud  cough. 

5.  As  he  went  through,  he  cried,  "Shough,  shough,  do  I" 

6.  The  horse  waded  from  the  dock  into  the  lough  till  his  houghs 
were  well  under  the  water. 

When  the  class  is  ready  for  word  building,  these  suggestions  may 
be  helpful: 

1.  Lead  the  children  to  recognize  the  fact  that  the  key- word  is 
found  in  each  new  word. 

2.  Give  special  attention  to  the  initial  letter  in  each  case,  and 
train  the  class  to  enunciate  each  sound  clearly  and  distinctly. 

3.  Have  each  word  spelled  by  sound  and  by  letter  only  when  it 
can  be  grasped  as  a  whole  or  recognized  by  sight. 

4.  Have  each  word  used  in  a  sample  sentence. 

5.  Weave  the  words  built  on  any  key-word  into  a  story,  and 
make  a  pause  at  each  word  of  the  key-word  vocabulary.  As  each 
special  word  is  woven  into  the  story,  have  some  child  in  readiness 
with  the  pointer  to  find  the  word  for  the  class.  If  a  mistake  is  made, 
allow  some  one  to  correct  the  first  child  and  to  take  his  place  at  the 
chart.     Some  devices  in  this  word  building  are  as  follows: 

Distribute  envelopes  containing  many  hektographed  phonograms. 
Match  them  by  placing  in  a  single  row  all  belonging  to  the  same 
family.  Give  to  each  child  a  small  clipping  from  a  newspaper.  As- 
sign words  to  be  found  such  as,  in,  that,  can.  Have  the  children 
draw  circles  or  rectangles  around  each. 

It  is  of  great  help  to  have  the  children  accustomed  to  phonetic 
analysis  so  that  they  may  be  led  to  concentrate  attention  upon 
the  utterance  of  sounds. 

If  there  are  stories  which  are  familiar  to  the  children  and 
which  furnish  good  material  for  phonetic  analysis,  they  may  be 
made  to  serve  an  excellent  purpose;  but  the  literature  must  not 
be  sacrificed  for  the  purpose  of  the  phonics.  The  teacher  should 
first  get  the  thought  that  the  poem  contains.    The  following  will 


28  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

charm  the  children  through  its  rhythm,  and  from  it  the  children 
will  get  their  first  elements  of  harmony: 

"Hey-diddle-diddle, 

The  cat  and  the  fiddle, 
The  cow  jumped  over  the  moon. 

The  little  dog  laughed 

To  see  such  craft, 
And  the  dish  ran  away  with  the  spoon." 

Many  of  the  Mother  Goose  melodies  have  admirable  combina- 
tions for  teaching  phonetic  analysis.  For  instance,  there  are 
the  sounds  of  o  and  ck  in, 

"Hickory,  dickory,  dock. 
The  mouse  ran  up  the  clock. 
The  clock  struck  one. 
And  down  he  run, 
Hickory,  dickory,  dock." 

and  those  of  ing  and  ong  in, 

"Ding,  dong!  ding,  dong! 

I'll  sing  you  a  song; 
'Tis  about  a  Httle  bird; 

He  sat  upon  a  tree, 

And  he  sang  to  me, 
And  I  never  spoke  a  word. 

"Ding,  dong!  ding,  dong! 

I'll  sing  you  a  song; 
*Tis  about  a  little  mouse; 

He  looked  very  cunning. 

As  I  saw  him  running. 
About  my  father's  house." 

In  "Simple  Simon"  there  are  several  recurring  sounds  as  well 
as  some  good  contrasts.     "The  house  that  Jack  Built"  may  be 


PRIMARY  READING  —  PHONICS  29 

used  in  different  ways,  while  the  children  will  always  find  pleas- 
ure in  the  combinations  of  sounds  that  are  contained  in  "Henny 
Penny." 

Summary.  —  Children  must  be  made  independent  readers,  able 
to  master,  unassisted,  the  difi5culties  of  the  printed  page.  Diacrit- 
ical markings  will  not  give  this  independence,  for  the  symbols  are 
merely  a  substitute  for  the  direct  help  given  by  the  teacher.  This 
power  can  come  only  through  a  study  of  phonics.  The  approach 
may  be  made  (i)  analytically:  by  separating  a  word  into  its  sounds 
and  identifying  the  component  sounds  with  their  printed  symbols; 
or  (2)  synthetically:  by  selecting  sounds,  associating  them  with  their 
symbols,  and  combining  them  to  form  words.  In  the  former  the 
process  is  from  thought  to  word,  through  analysis  to  symbols  and  so 
to  recombination.  In  the  latter,  the  process  is  from  phonic  elements 
and  their  symbols  through  synthesis  to  words,  and  so  to  thoughts. 
In  the  recombination  or  the  formation  of  new  words,  devices  must 
be  employed  to  secure  concentrated  attention. 


CHAPTER  IV 
OVERCOMING    DEFECTS    IN    SPEECH 

Up  to  this  point  we  have  been  discussing  the  teaching  of 
phonics  with  reference  to  the  power  which  we  wish  to  give  to  the 
child,  of  attacking  in  an  independent  way  difficulties  which  he 
encounters  when  he  attempts  to  pronounce  unfamiliar  words. 
In  the  practical  suggestions  about  to  be  given,  we  shall  have 
another  aim  in  view.  Ruskin  says:  ''A  well-educated  gentle- 
man may  not  know  many  languages;  may  not  be  able  to  speak 
any  but  his  own;  may  have  read  very  few  books;  but  whatever 
language  he  knows,  he  knows  precisely;  whatever  word  he  pro- 
nounces, he  pronounces  rightly."  In  addition  to  giving  the 
power  to  read  new  words  and  the  power  to  pronounce  new  words 
correctly,  the  exercises  should  aim  to  give  distinct  articulation 
and  pure  tone. 

It  is  a  mistake  to  imagine  that  work  in  phonics  should  end 
with  the  first  three  years.  Primarily,  of  course,  the  aim  of  this 
study  is  to  lead  the  pupils  to  separate  words  into  their  com- 
ponent parts,  to  learn  these  phonic  elements  as  units,  and  then 
to  combine  these  units  in  the  formation  of  new  words,  using 
them,  where  possible,  in  pronouncing  words  never  before  met 
by  the  children.  At  the  end  of  the  third  year,  all  sounds  and 
elements  should  have  been  taught,  and  the  children  should  be 
ready,  with  a  minimum  amount  of  guidance,  successfully  to 
attack  any  exercise  suited  to  their  stage  of  mental  development. 
But  beyond  the  third  year  the  work  in  phonics  may  be  used  to 
concentrate  the  attention  of  the  children  upon  the  correct 
sounding  of  words. 


OVERCOMING  DEFECTS  IN  SPEECH  31 

One  of  the  rarest  accomplishments  is  the  ability  to  utter 
EngUsh  words  with  their  proper  values.  Even  the  person  of 
more  than  ordinary  education  is  shp-shod  in  his  utterance, 
careless  in  his  articulation,  and  incorrect  in  rendering  the  sound 
values  of  vowels.  If  a  clean-cut  utterance  is  to  be  considered 
the  mark  of  an  educated  man,  then  it  should  be  the  aim  of  the 
school  to  direct  attention  consciously  to  the  realization  of  this 
aim.  Phonic  exercises,  therefore,  particularly  for  the  purpose  of 
getting  exact,  yet  not  too  mechanical,  utterance,  should  be  a 
part  of  the  school  course. 

This  work  may  include  three  phases.  In  the  first  place,  the 
usual  trick-sentences  may  be  taught  and  rapidly  repeated  by 
the  children,  so  as  to  render  more  flexible  the  organs  of  utterance. 
In  the  second  place,  the  same  end  should  be  realized  by  having 
the  individual  go  through,  daily,  a  series  of  exercises  for  the 
strengthening  of  the  muscles  which  produce  the  sounds.  And 
thirdly,  there  may  be  series  of  definite  exercises  formulated  for 
the  purpose  of  curing  defects  in  articulation  or  enunciation. 

In  the  fifth  year,  and  thereafter  in  each  succeeding  term, 
diacritical  marks  may  be  taught  in  connection  with  the  use  of 
the  dictionary.  From  this  time  the  child  becomes  an  abso- 
lutely independent  reader,  for  he  now  has  at  his  command  all 
the  means  available  to  the  average  person,  of  learning  the 
prommciation  of  new  words. 

The  qualities  of  good  oral  reading  are:  i.  Correct  pronuncia- 
tion —  which  means  giving  to  the  consonants  and  the  vowels 
those  values  which  are  sanctioned  by  usage,  together  with  the 
right  placing  of  the  accent.  This  will  be  found  to  depend,  to  a 
great  extent,  upon  giving  right  vowel  value.  2.  Enunciation 
—  which  means  giving  correct  value  to  the  consonants.  3. 
Articulation,  or  the  right  joining  of  syllables  to  form  words. 
4.  Pitch.  5.  Elements  connected  with  the  right  expression  of 
the  content;  namely,  tone,  modulation,  pace,  and  inflection. 

Among  the  common  and  serious  defects  in  school  reading  are: 


32  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

I.  Defects  in  enunciation  —  due  to  defect  in  hearing  or  to  a 
malformation  of  the  vocal  organs.  2.  Lack  of  voice,  which 
may  be  due  to  improper  physical  development  or  to  improper 
tone  production. 

In  every  case  it  should  be  the  aim  of  the  teacher  to  ascertain 
what  are  the  causes  of  the  defects,  and  to  treat  them  directly. 
Sometimes  the  errors  are  due  to  a  lack  of  discriminating  atten- 
tion. Here  devices  must  be  employed  to  arouse  the  attention, 
and  to  direct  it  to  the  clearest  possible,  even  exaggerated, 
enunciation  of  the  sounds  which  the  child  confuses,  until  he 
perceives  the  points  of  difference.  A  game  may  be  used. 
Two  lines  are  formed  and  the  players  arranged  in  these  lines. 
The  leader  whispers  to  the  one  at  the  foot  of  the  line  an  un- 
familiar sentence.  He,  in  turn,  whispers  it  to  the  one  above  him; 
and  this  is  kept  up  until  the  head  of  the  line  has  been  reached. 
The  child  at  the  head  of  each  line  then  announces  the  sentence 
as  he  hears  it,  and  that  line  reproducing  the  sentence  with  the 
smallest  number  of  errors,  wins. 

Training  in  accurate  hstening,  however,  will  not  bring  about 
all  the  results  that  the  teacher  desires  to  achieve.  Shght  in- 
accuracies confuse  the  speech  materially.     Some  of  these  are: 

a.  Failure  to  touch  the  gima  strongly  with  the  point  of  the 
tongue  for  the  soimd  of  t. 

b.  Starting  the  sound  of  /  before  the  muscles  are  in  place. 

c.  Closing  the  teeth  when  producing  the  sound  of  m. 

d.  Failure  completely  to  finish  the  diphthongal  consonant 
j  (dzh), 

e.  Too  little  tension  in  the  tongue  when  y  is  the  sound  needed. 
Drills  for  muscular  flexibility  will  do  much  toward  overcoming 

rigidity,  and  slow,  heavy,  or  drawling  articulation,  the  result 
being  that  the  children  will  acquire  power  to  speak  clearly, 
smoothly,  and  rapidly. 

In  addition  to  this  formal  work,  there  should  be  drill  on  sen- 
tences which  the  children  study  so  that  they  may  be  able  to 


OVERCOMING  DEFECTS  IN  SPEECH  33 

repeat  them  very  rapidly.    Examples  of  these  sentences  are  here 
given : 

Hail!  heavenly  harmony. 

Up  the  high  hill  he  heaved  a  huge  round  stone. 
Heaven's  first  star  alike  ye  see. 
Let  it  wave  proudly  o'er  the  good  and  the  brave. 
The  supply  lasts  still. 

And  gleaming  and  streaming  and  steaming  and  beaming. 
It  is  the  first  step  that  costs. 
The  deed  was  done  in  broad  day. 
None  now  is  left  to  tell  the  mournful  tale. 
Take  care  that  you  be  not  deceived,  dear  friends. 
Lie  lightly  on  her,  earth!  her  step  was  light  on  thee. 
Thou  wast  struck  dumb  with  amazement. 

Can  no  one  be  found  faithful  enough  to  warn  him  of  his  danger? 
No  one  dared  do  it. 
A  great  deal  of  disturbance  ensued. 
He  gave  him  good  advice  which  he  did  not  take. 
A  dark  cloud  spread  over  the  heavens. 

Had  he  but  heeded  the  counsel  of  his  friend,  he  might  have  been 
saved. 

He  came  at  last  too  late  to  be  of  any  service. 
The  magistrates  stood  on  an  elevated  platform. 

The  following  exercises  are  taken  from  leading  books  on  the 
correction  of  speech  defects.  They  are  suggestive.  Additional 
exercises  may  be  found  in  the  many  technical  books  on  the  sub- 
ject.   Those  here  given  are  mainly  selected  from  Bell's  work. 

Exercises  for  the  Tongue,  Soft-Palate,  Lips, 
AND  Lower  Jaw 

Tongue  Exercises  (before  a  looking-glass) 
Exercise  I 

Open  the  mouth  wide,  but  not  too  wide  (this  is  meant  for  all  exer- 
cises) ;   let  the  tongue  rest  quietly,  without  any  pressure,  flat  on  the 


34  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

bottom  of  the  oral  cavity,  the  point  touching  but  not  pressing  the 
front  teeth;  breathe  lightly  in  and  out  through  the  mouth  (four,  six 
times),  not  allowing  the  tongue  to  move  in  the  least. 

Exercise  II 

Protrude  the  tongue  as  far  as  possible  without  any  pressure  and 
independent  of  the  muscles  of  the  larynx;  keep  it  out  for  four 
seconds,  then  draw  it  back  as  far  as  possible.  Keep  it  back  four 
seconds  without  closing  the  mouth.  Begin  slowly  (six  times),  grow- 
ing faster  by  degrees  (ten,  fifteen  times  in  succession).  Protrude 
the  tongue  during  expiration,  draw  it  back  during  a  deep  inspiration 
through  the  mouth,  the  nostrils  held  closed  by  thumb  and  forefinger. 

This  exercise  is  to  be  repeated  frequently  while  he  who  practices 
should  try  to  become  conscious  of  the  muscles  by  means  of  which 
this  is  accomplished  (for  the  knowledge  of  the  muscles  to  be  used 
at  all  times  is  the  chief  requirement).  He  will  find  that  in  drawing 
back  the  tongue,  its  root  will  contract  and  thereby  push  down  the 
larynx;  while  in  protruding  the  tongue,  its  root  will  come  forward 
and  the  larynx  will  be  drawn  up.  With  this  exercise  let  him  combine 
the  raising  of  the  soft-palate,  for  while  (during  the  production  of  a 
tone),  the  tongue  should  not  form  an  arch  which  protrudes  into  the 
oral  cavity,  the  soft-palate  should  not  be  drawn  too  far  downward, 
in  order  to  fulfil  the  first  condition  of  a  full,  clear  tone,  viz.:  wide 
fauces  and  wide  oral  cavity. 

Exercise  III 

Open  the  mouth  wide,  move  the  tip  of  the  pointed  tongue  to  the 
corners  of  the  mouth,  alternately  to  the  right  and  left  (six  times), 
having  the  direct  intention  to  strike  the  corners  (for  purposeless  work 
is  only  a  mechanical  action  and  will  not  lead  to  success) ;  then,  grow- 
ing faster  by  degrees  (ten,  fifteen  times  in  succession).  Do  not 
hold  the  breath  during  this  exercise,  but  breathe  quietly  and  regularly 
through  the  mouth. 

Exercise  IV 

Open  the  mouth  wide,  touch  with  the  tip  of  the  sharply-pointed 
tongue  the  middle  of  the  upper  and  of  the  lower  lip  alternately; 


OVERCOMING  DEFECTS  IN  SPEECH  35 

begin  slowly,  with  the  direct  intention  of  letting  only  the  outermost  tip, 
not  the  entire  front  part  of  the  tongue,  touch  the  middle  of  the  hps 
(six  times),  then  growing  faster,  (ten,  fifteen  times). 

Exercise  V 

Open  the  mouth  wide,  place  the  tip  of  the  pointed  tongue  in 
one  corner  of  the  mouth,  proceed  with  sharply-pointed  tongue  in 
dotting  fashion  along  the  upper  Hp  to  the  other  corner;  then  on  the 
under  Up  to  the  starting  point;  repeat  the  same  movement  back- 
ward to  the  starting  point. 

Exercise  VI 

Open  the  mouth  wide,  touch  with  the  tip  of  the  very  sharply- 
pointed  tongue  the  roots  of  the  upper  middle  incisors,  as  if  to  make  a 
dot  there,  and  then,  touching  the  palate  in  such  dotting  fashion  with 
the  tip  of  the  tongue,  proceed  back  as  far  as  possible;  then  go  for- 
ward again,  always  breathing  through  the  mouth  (inspiration  while 
the  tongue  goes  back,  expiration  while  it  goes  forward,  six  times), 
both  ways. 

Exercise  VII 

Touch,  in  the  same  manner,  the  bottom  of  the  oral  cavity,  back- 
ward and  forward. 

Exercise  VIII 

Open  the  mouth  wide,  touch  with  the  tip  of  the  sharply-pointed 
tongue  the  middle  of  the  upper  lip,  then  of  the  lower  lip  and,  with- 
out pausing,  the  right  and  left  corners  of  the  mouth,  (ten,  twelve 
times),  slowly  at  first,  growing  faster  by  degrees,  alternating  thus: 
upper  middle,  lower  middle,  right  corner,  left  corner,  upper  middle, 
lower  middle,  left  corner,  right  corner,  always  with  the  sharply- 
pointed  tongue. 

Exercise  IX 

Open  the  mouth  wide,  touch  with  the  tip  of  the  sharply-pointed 
tongue  the  middle  of  the  right  side  of  the  upper  lip,  then  that  of  the 
left  side  of  the  upper  lip;  first  slowly  (six  times),  then  faster  (six 
times),  without  any  movement  of  the  lower  jaw. 


36  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

Exercise  X 

Repeat  the  same  exercise  with  the  lower  Up,  without  movement 
of  the  lower  jaw. 

Exercise  XI 

Combine  these  two  exercises  in  the  following  manner:  Begin  at 
the  upper  right  side,  proceed  to  the  lower  left,  thence  to  the  upper 
left,  and  then  to  the  lower  right,  so  that  this  figure  X  would  be 
produced;  at  first  slowly  (six  times),  then  faster  (six  times). 

Exercise  XII 

Open  the  mouth  wide;  proceed  with  the  tip  of  the  sharply-pointed 
tongue  from  the  right  to  the  left,  brushing  the  upper  lip  and  passing 
along  the  lower  Hp  back  to  the  right  without  interruption  (six  times), 
slowly;  then  (six  times),  growing  faster  by  degrees;  repeat  from  the 
left  to  the  right,  in  the  same  manner. 

Exercise  XIII 

Repeat  the  same  exercise  along  the  inner  side  of  the  hps.  Dur- 
ing this  exercise  touch  the  Ups  sharply  with  the  tip  of  the  tongue. 
Do  not  open  the  mouth  too  wide  here. 

Exercise  XIV 

Repeat  the  same  exercise  along  the  outer  side  of  the  Hps. 
Let  it  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  purpose  of  these  exercises  is  to 
sharpen  the  tongue,  and  that  they  should  be  faithfully  performed. 

Exercise  XV 

Protrude  the  root  of  the  lowered  tongue  without  allowing  its 
tip  to  pass  beyond  the  front  teeth  (ten,  twelve  times). 

Exercise  XVI 

Sing  a  tone  (ah),  holding  it  as  long  as  possible,  without  allowing 
it  to  lose  its  clear  character,  and  at  the  same  time  try  to  make  a  cir- 
cUng  movement  with  the  tip  of  the  tongue;  and  later,  when  this 
exercise  has  been  fully  mastered,  try  to  make  a  horizontal  movement 


OVERCOMING  DEFECTS  IN  SPEECH  37 

with  the  tip  of  the  tongue  from  one  side  of  the  mouth  to  the  other, 
first  slowly  and  then  gradually  increasing  in  rapidity. 

To  hold  down  the  tongue  by  means  of  a  stick  or  the  handle  of  a 
tooth-brush,  I  do  not  consider  at  all  beneficial.  He  who  does  not 
learn  to  move  the  muscles  of  the  tongue  independently,  will  not 
derive  any  aid  by  forcibly  holding  the  tongue  down,  or  the  aid  will 
last  only  as  long  as  the  forcible  pressure  continues.  The  only  rad- 
ical cure  for  the  incorrect  activity  of  the  muscles  of  the  tongue  lies 
in  its  perfect  control,  and  this  control  can  he  obtained  only  by  means  of 
the  exercises  prescribed. 

He  who,  during  the  activity  of  the  muscles  of  the  larynx,  is  able 
thus  to  move  the  tongue,  will  also  be  able  to  keep  it  in  an  inactive 
state. 

The  Soft-Palate 

Exercise  XVII 

The  exercise  for  the  soft-palate  consists  in  opening  the  mouth  wide 
and  attempting  to  raise  the  soft-palate  without  singing.  Here  also 
it  would  be  serviceable  if  the  raising  of  the  palate  occurred  during 
deep  inspiration  through  the  mouth,  the  nostrils  being  closed. 

The  Lips 
Exercise  XVIII 

The  exercise  for  the  lips  is  the  following:  Attempt  to  move  them 
singly;  for  instance,  draw  the  under  hp  downward  without  allow- 
ing the  upper  lip  to  move,  and  vice  versa.  Produce  a  tone,  hold  it 
a  while,  and  make  the  same  movement  of  the  lips.  He  who  has  mas- 
tered the  muscles  of  the  lips  singly,  can  let  them  rest  when  they  are 
not  to  act. 

The  Lower  Jaw 

Exercise  XIX 

Sing  and  hold  a  tone,  moving  the  lower  jaw  (without  any  pressure 
upon  the  larynx)  horizontally  to  right  and  left,  and  then  describe 
a  slightly  circling  movement.  The  object  of  this  is  to  free  the  muscles 
used  in  chewing. 


38  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

When  a  person  is  inclined  to  use  the  larynx  incorrectly,  or  gener- 
ally to  act  with  incorrect  muscular  activity,  then,  as  a  general  thing, 
all  the  muscles  are  strained  unnaturally,  and  thus  hinder  the  free 
development  of  the  organs. 

Some  of  the  sounds  that  present  the  greatest  difficulty  are: 

1.  The  final  g  omitted  in  ing. 

2.  Dropping  final  /  or  d. 

3.  Omitting  a  letter  altogether  —  r  in  girl,  in  New  York. 

4.  Introducing  a  letter  or  syllable  wrongly,  e.g.,  sore  for  saw, 
umherella  for  umbrella. 

Slurring  and  often  transforming  the  final  consonant:  — 
He  sore  me  —  for,  he  saw  me. 
I'll  dror  a  man;  throw  pronounced  trow. 

5.  Adding  extra  ^  or  ^  sound,  at  end  of  syllable  ing  when 
followed  by  word  beginning  or  last  element. 

6.  V  sounded  like  w  and  w  like  v. 

7.  th  sound  as  in  that,  with,  weather. 

8.  Dropping  the  final  consonants  —  comin'  instead  of  coming; 
toV  instead  of  told;  an'  instead  of  and. 

9.  Pronouncing  th  SiS  d  or  t  —  as  pronouncing  dem  for  them 
or  tree  for  three. 

10.  Through  1 

Though     1  apt  to  be  confused. 
Thought  J 

11.  Children  find  special  difficulty  in  pronouncing  endings 
such  as:  sts,  nd,  ing,  pt.  For  a  drill,  write  the  following  sen- 
tences on  blackboard,  requiring  the  children  to  read  them  aloud. 

She  still  insists  that  it  rusts  the  posts. 
Don't  bend  the  brand  new  stand  I  lend  you. 
Her  singing  and  ringing  laughter  deadened  the  clanging  of  the 
beUs. 

Wrapped  in  thought,  he  crept  to  bed,  and  soon  slept. 


I 


OVERCOMING  DEFECTS  IN  SPEECH  39 

Sometimes  write  lists  like  the  following  and  require  the  class 
to  read  them  quickly : 

lists  mists  wrists  fists  thrusts  ghosts 

band  hand  lend  grand  send  find         mind   brand 

singing  flinging  flowing  rousing  pudding  rocking 

wrapt  swept  kept 

Insist  upon  careful  enunciation,  exact  enunciation  —  no 
winders,  no  want  ters,  or  saw  Hm  —  and  no  unintelligible  elision 
of  words,  the  standing  criticism  of  the  English  upon  the  American 
at  large. 

The  following  suggestions  are  offered: 

1.  Continue  the  drill  lessons  to  correct  such  faults,  until  the 
pupils  form  the  habit  of  avoiding  the  faults  in  ordinary  speech. 

2.  Show  the  proper  position  and  use  of  the  necessary  organs 
of  speech  involved  in  the  production  of  the  correct  sound. 

3.  Pronounce  slowly,  enunciate  clearly  and  distinctly.  With 
foreign  children  sound  is  of  greater  importance  than  form  in  the 
beginning. 

4.  Give  special  attention  to  ear-training. 

5.  Train  the  pupils  to  listen  carefully  to  the  teacher,  to 
watch  her  speak,  and  to  imitate  her.  Pupils  have  varying 
ability  to  discriminate  between  sounds,  therefore  special  drills 
are  necessary. 

6.  Occasionally  give  the  sounds  of  the  words,  and  let  the 
children  tell  the  words. 

7.  Give  the  special  exercises  to  correct  slovenly  pronunciation 
and  enunciation  apart  from  the  reading  lessons. 

8.  Insist  on  slow  reading,  slow  pronunciation. 

9.  Teach  the  simple  phonograms  first.  Train  the  children 
to  blend  these  into  words  which  they  know  experimentally  but 
which  now  they  are  to  read.  Go  slowly.  Make  the  drill 
thorough. 


40  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

lo.  Provide  for  thorough  training  of  the  ear  and  of  the  vocal 
organs.  Keep  a  Hst  of  sentences  consisting  of  words  containing 
difficult  sounds  to  be  memorized  and  frequently  repeated  by 
the  pupil.  All  speaking  and  reading  should  be  audible;  do  not 
allow  mimibling. 

Summary. — The  first  aim  in  the  teaching  of  phonics  is  to  give 
the  child  independence  in  attacking  new  words.  After  the  third 
year,  the  aim  should  be  specifically  the  improvement  of  the  tech- 
nique of  speech.  The  work  should  embrace  (i)  ear  training;  (2) 
improvement  of  tone  production;  (3)  training  in  the  accuracy  and 
flexibiHty  of  the  muscular  movements  involved  in  speech. 


CHAPTER  V 
THE   READING   LESSON 

Intermediate  Grades 

Reference  has  already  been  made  to  the  proper  conduct 
of  the  reading  lesson,  and  to  the  selection  of  material  which  is 
to  form  the  subject  matter  of  these  lessons.  In  common  with 
every  other  exercise,  the  reading  lesson  should  have  a  definite 
aim.  This  may  be  either  the  right  appreciation  of  an  interest- 
ing content,  or  the  mastery  of  the  technique  of  expression;  and 
since  our  preceding  discussion  has  been  mainly  devoted  to 
form,  we  shall  treat  the  second  of  these  aims  first. 

The  reading  of  a  selection  aloud  by  the  pupil  is,  at  present, 
the  most  commonly  adopted  test  of  right  appreciation  by  the 
pupil  of  the  meaning  of  that  selection.  As  will  be  shown  later, 
other  tests  of  equal,  and  of  even  greater,  value,  may  be  given. 
A  faulty  reading,  assuming  that  we  are  thinking  of  something 
larger  than  the  mere  pronunciation  or  enunciation  of  the  words, 
may  be  due  to  one  of  two  causes.  In  the  first  place,  the  chil- 
dren may  not  really  understand  the  selection  they  are  reading. 
It  may  be  beyond  their  comprehension  because  it  is  on  a  level  of 
thought  for  the  right  appreciation  of  \yhich  they  are  not  suffi- 
ciently matured.  Secondly,  it  may  be  that  although  they  possess 
a  somewhat  vague,  and  yet  adequate  understanding  of  the 
feeling  of  the  selection,  they  lack  control  of  those  expressive 
activities  which  will  enable  them  to  commimicate  to  others  their 
own  complete  understanding  of  what  they  are  reading.  A  child, 
for  example,  may  know  that  a  certain  passage  was  delivered  in 
an  ironical  tone,  yet  he  may  not  know  how  to  express  irony  by 


42  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

the  tone  of  his  voice.  He  may  know  that  a  certain  passage  is 
subdued  and  somber,  and  yet  he  may  not  know  how  to  give 
expression  to  the  feeHng  which  dominates  the  selection. 

These  things  are  not  the  possession  of  the  child  by  intuition. 
It  is  true,  that  if  sufficient  models  were  presented,  they  might 
be  acquired  by  imitation.  To  eliminate  waste,  however,  here 
as  in  all  methods  of  technique  which  are  to  be  rated  as  habits 
of  automatic  reaction,  that  which  is  later  to  occupy  a  margin  of 
consciousness,  must  at  some  time  in  the  formative  period,  be 
fixed  by  concentration  within  the  focus  of  consciousness  That 
is  to  say,  if  we  are  at  a  later  period  to  use  all  the  tricks  of  an 
elocutionist  semi-consciously,  while  the  center  of  our  attention 
is  occupied  by  an  interest  in  a  gripping  content,  we  must  at  some 
earlier  time  have  focalized  upon  these  tricks  of  the  elocutionist, 
making  them  habitual  and  automatic. 

In  the  first  three  years  of  the  course,  all  this  work  should  be 
made  incidental.  A  formal  lesson  in  correct  expression  could 
not  be  made  interesting  to  the  children  during  this  period. 
Where  we  have  a  monotone  in  reading,  or  a  case  of  misplaced 
emphasis,  skilfully  directed  questions  will  bring  the  children 
naturally  to  emphasize  the  right  word  and  give  the  proper  tone 
and  inflection. 

Beginning  with  the  fourth  year,  however,  lessons  may  be  de- 
voted to  this  formal  work.  The  subject  matter  may  be  some 
very  short  selection,  from  a  part  of  a  story  already  read  in  the 
class,  the  part  to  be  chosen  so  that  it  contains  material  that  will 
be  of  value  for  such  a  lesson.  In  higher  grades,  where  it  is  safe 
completely  to  segregate 'this  kind  of  exercise  from  the  regular 
reading  lesson,  formal  drills  on  specially  constructed  or  selected 
sentences,  independent  of  the  reading  matter  of  the  grade,  may 
be  chosen.  Even  here,  however,  this  is  a  dangerous  practice 
and  should  be  only  sparingly  resorted  to. 

The  direct  model  for  immediate  imitation,  as  presented  by 
the  teacher,  should  be  most  frequently  used;  care  should  be 


READING  —  INTERMEDIATE  GRADES  43 

taken  that  this  model  may  be  a  good  one.  Many  pupils  may 
be  called  upon  to  read  and  to  re-read  the  same  part  until  the 
aim,  whether  it  be  clean-cut  articulation,  the  rendering  of  proper 
enunciatory  values,  the  use  of  a  certain  voice  quality,  the  ex- 
pression of  a  certain  feeling,  such  as  wonder,  surprise,  terror, 
fear,  mystery,  has  been  realized  by  a  majority  of  the  pupils. 
Application  should  follow,  and  should  consist  in  the  reading  of 
an  entirely  new  selection  which,  however,  illustrates  the  particu- 
lar point  that  has  just  been  taken  up. 

An  interesting  and  profitable  exercise  in  this  connection  is 
the  training  in  giving  what  may  be  called  word  color;  that  is, 
uttering  a  series  of  adjectives,  for  example,  in  such  a  way  that 
the  sound  will  give  an  inkling  of  the  meaning;  or  again,  of 
uttering  the  same  word,  preferably  a  descriptive  word,  so  as  to 
give  the  expression  of  different  feelings  connected  with  that 
word.  In  the  fifth  year,  these  lessons  may  occur  as  frequently 
as  once  in  two  weeks.  Later,  one  lesson  a  month  may  be  con- 
sidered sufficient.  It  should  be  remembered  that  practically 
unlimited  repetition  by  individual  children  is  almost  the  only 
method  to  be  followed. 

We  now  come  to  the  second  kind  of  reading  lesson:  namely, 
the  lesson  for  content.  The  aim  should  be  kept  carefully  in 
mind  and  should  dominate  every  step  of  the  lesson.  Even 
though  the  unit  is  a  long  story,  the  reading  of  which  may  extend 
over  many  periods,  the  lesson  itself  should  be  a  unit  incident  or 
episode  within  the  larger  story.  Details  in  the  technique  of 
lessons  will  vary  according  to  the  grade  taught,  selection  pre- 
sented, and  so  on.  For  the  purposes  of  this  discussion,  however, 
we  will  assume  that  we  are  presenting  a  prose  selection  to  a 
fifth  year  class. 

Children  may  be  encouraged  to  collect  in  scrap-books,  pictures 
illustrating  the  story  itself.  A  bulletin  board  on  the  walls  of 
the  room  should  contain  other  material,  and  wherever  possible, 
pictures  should  be  displayed  in  the  class  room  so  as  to  make  the 


44  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

story  more  vivid.  The  introduction  to  the  lesson  should  be 
conversational,  and  may  be  based  upon  some  part  of  the  illus- 
trative material  gathered  by  the  pupils  or  displayed  in  the  room, 
which  may  be  brought  to  bear  upon  the  particular  portion  to  be 
read  that  day.  It  may  be  based  upon  an  illustration  in  the 
book  itself.  It  may  grow  out  of  the  title  of  the  story,  or  the 
heading  given  to  the  particular  incident.  It  may  be  developed 
from  some  relation  drawn  by  the  teacher  between  the  life  or  the 
personality  of  the  author,  and  the  story  or  part  of  the  story 
read;  or  finally,  it  may  center  around  a  question  formulated  by 
the  teacher  and  covering  the  content  of  the  selection. 

This  preparatory  step  should  be  brief,  and  should  be  char- 
acterized by  snap  and  vigor.  The  questions  should  be  definite, 
terse,  clear,  well  distributed,  thought  provoking,  and  should 
gradually  lead  toward  the  explication  of  the  central  point  of 
the  lesson.  The  next  step  should  be  a  silent  reading  by  the 
pupils,  the  aim  of  which  is  to  secure  a  general  notion  of  the 
content,  as  well  as  to  enable  the  pupils  to  anticipate  the  diffi- 
culties they  are  to  meet  with  on  the  formal  side,  so  that 
these  difficulties  may  be  removed.  This  will  involve  telling 
the  pupil  the  pronunciation  of  new  words,  explaining  the  mean- 
ing of  difficult  words  or  passages,  making  allusions  clear,  or 
bringing  to  the  level  of  the  children  an  idea  which  at  first  seemed 
to  be  beyond  them.  The  teacher  should,  as  far  as  possible,  try 
to  keep  the  class  parallel  in  silent  reading,  by  asking  them  to 
go  as  far  as  a  certain  point  in  the  story,  and  then  to  stop  until 
all  questions  on  the  text  have  been  met.  There  should  be  no 
long  explanations. 

Wherever  possible,  children  should  answer  the  questions  set 
by  children.  The  teacher  must  never  lose  sight  of  the  fact 
that  the  aim  of  a  reading  lesson  is  to  have  the  children  read 
and  not  to  have  them  talk  too  much  about  what  they  are  going 
to  read.  For  pronunciation,  if  the  child  cannot  develop  the 
word  by  comparison  with  phonic  elements  already  learned, 

m 

:Mft 


READING  —  INTERMEDIATE  GRADES  45 

the  teacher  or  a  child  may  give  the  pronunciation;  or  in  the 
higher  grades,  the  children  should  discover  the  pronunciation 
for  themselves  from  the  dictionary. 

In  developing  the  meaning  of  new  words,  the  children  should 
be  left  to  discover  the  meanings  for  themselves  as  far  as  possible, 
and  in  the  upper  grades,  should  be  encouraged  to  guess  at  the 
meaning  from  the  context  without  recourse  to  the  dictionary. 
Use  should  be  made  in  the  higher  grades  of  the  knowledge  of 
etymological  derivatives.  Allusions  may  be  made  clear  in  as 
few  words  as  possible  by  the  teacher,  while  difficulties  in  the 
thought  should  be  cleared  up  by  making  the  explanation  as 
concrete  as  possible.  A  simple  dramatization  by  the  teacher 
will  frequently  save  much  verbiage,  and  will  give  as  clear  a 
notion  as  it  is  necessary  for  the  children  to  possess. 

As  this  part  of  the  lesson  proceeds,  the  teacher  should  write 
on  the  blackboard  the  words  or  phrases  brought  up  by  the 
questions  of  the  pupils  which  she  deems  of  sufficient  value  to 
warrant  drill,  and  when  the  silent  reading  has  been  completed, 
she  should  run  rapidly  over  the  list  of  words  written  on  the 
blackboard,  two,  three,  or  more  times,  until  the  pronunciation 
has  been  well  fixed,  or  the  meaning  well  understood.  It  is,  of 
course,  to  be  understood  that  in  the  teacher's  own  preparation 
of  the  lesson,  she  has  selected  words  and  passages  which  in  her 
opinion  warrant  explanation  because  of  the  difficulties  that 
they  present.  If  any  of  these  are  not  brought  out  by  the  chil- 
dren, the  teacher  should  question  on  them. 

When  this  second  step,  the  silent  reading,  has  been  completed, 
there  should  be  a  return  to  the  content  of  the  lesson  by  one  or 
two  skilfully  framed  questions,  bearing  upon  the  general  mean- 
ing or  the  central  thought  of  the  lesson  to  be  read.  Under  no 
circumstances  should  a  child  be  interrupted  for  correction  while 
he  is  reading.  The  teacher  may,  however,  stop  him  at  any 
time  and  ask  a  question  on  the  context,  a  question  which  will 
call  for  the  expression  of  an  opinion  or  the  formation  of  a  judg- 


46  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

ment.  Answers  should  be  given  by  the  children  in  complete 
sentences,  and  should  be  delivered  with  attention  to  correct 
enunciation  and  articulation.  While  emphasis  upon  this  may 
make  the  earher  lessons  move  very  slowly,  and  may  develop  a 
tendency  toward  formalism,  it  will,  sooner  or  later,  crystallize 
into  a  habit  and  become  automatic. 

Each  child  who  reads  should  stand  properly,  and  should  aim 
at  correct  phrasing.  Children  should  be  trained  to  visualize 
groups  of  words  and  to  look  up  frequently  from  the  printed 
page.  When  the  pupil  has  finished  reading  a  portion  which  is  a 
unit,  not  because  it  covers  a  certain  number  of  lines,  or  because 
it  includes  a  certain  paragraph,  but  because  it  is  a  separate  part 
of  the  story,  the  teacher  may  question  the  child  and  the  class 
upon  the  meaning  of  words  and  of  phrases,  but  more  particu- 
larly should  ask  questions  which  require  a  judgment  on  the  part 
of  the  children  concerning  the  acts  and  thoughts  of  the  charac- 
ters of  the  story. 

In  calling  upon  successive  pupils  to  read,  instead  of  following 
a  certain  definite  order  determined  by  the  seating  of  the  pupils, 
and  instead  of  getting  the  next  reader  by  the  simple  injunction, 
"Next  boy  read,"  the  teacher  may,  wherever  possible,  lead  up  to 
the  portion  to  be  read  by  questions  based  on  the  context,  asking 
the  question  in  such  a  way  that  it  is  rightly  answered  by 
having  the  pupils  read  the  next  portion  from  the  text.  Good 
readers  may  be  alternated  with  poor  ones,  and  all  children 
should  be  encouraged  to  read  in  a  natural  voice  without  any 
strain. 

Frequently  children  may  be  called  upon  to  go  to  the  black- 
board and  asked  to  draw  their  idea  of  a  scene,  the  description 
of  which  has  just  been  read.  Sometimes,  one  or  more  pupils 
may  be  called  to  the  front  of  the  room  to  dramatize  either  in 
pantomime,  by  supplying  original  dialogue,  or  by  using  the 
conversation  of  the  text.  Sometimes,  in  the  description  of  a 
person  or  of  a  place,  the  teacher  may  have  scattered  indiscrimi- 


READING  — INTERMEDIATE  GRADES  47 

nately  on  her  desk  a  number  of  pictures,  not  necessarily  dealing 
with  the  subject  matter  of  the  story,  and  the  pupil  may  be  called 
upon  to  step  to  the  desk  and  select  a  picture  which  represents  his 
idea  of  the  person  or  of  the  place  described. 

While  a  child  is  reading,  the  teacher  should  listen  with  closed 
book.  When  all  the  burden  of  understanding  is  thrown  upon 
the  ear,  the  teacher  will  create  a  higher  standard  of  correct 
articulation  than  she  would  call  for  if  the  ear  were  continually 
aided  by  the  eye.  Sometimes,  a  child  may  step  to  the  front  of 
the  roonl  and  read  while  the  entire  class  listens  with  closed 
books.  Where  children  fail  altogether  in  giving  right  inflection 
or  proper  expression,  the  teacher  need  not  supply  an  immediate 
and  direct  model  either  by  reading  the  portion  herself,  or  by 
having  a  pupil  read  it.  A  few  skilfully  directed  questions  on 
the  context  may  lead  the  children  to  see  where  the  proper  em- 
phasis should  be  placed,  and  what  the  general  thought  should  be. 

Every  reading  lesson  should  end  with  some  kind  Of  summary. 
This  may  be  an  uninterrupted  reading  by  the  best  pupils 
standing  in  the  front  of  the  room  while  the  rest  of  the  class 
hsten  with  books  closed.  Or  it  may  be  an  oral  reproduction 
of  the  story  by  the  pupils.  Again,  the  teacher  may  give  an 
uninterrupted  reading,  although  this  is  probably  the  least  valu- 
able of  the  suggestions  except  in  the  case  of  poetry,  when  the 
uninterrupted  reading  by  the  teacher  may  follow  the  second 
step  of  the  introduction,  (that  in  which  the  difficult  words  are 
selected  by  the  pupils),  and  may  precede  the  reading  of  the 
poem  by  the  class.  Fourthly,  the  summary  may  take  the  form 
of  a  discussion  of  the  central  thought  of  the  selection.  Again, 
and  once  more  this  has  particular  reference  to  a  poem,  it  may  be 
a  comment  on  the  artistic  value  of  the  selection.  At  another 
time,  this  summary  may  be  given  in  the  form  of  a  reproduction 
of  the  story,  written  by  the  pupils  as  seat-work,  while  the  other 
groups  are  receiving  direct  instruction  from  the  teacher  in  some 
other  subject.    And,  finally,  one  of  the  most  valuable  forms 


48  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

of  reproduction  is  the  dramatization  of  the  entire  story  or  of 
some  leading  incident  with  groups  of  the  pupils.  This  subject 
will  be  treated  in  greater  detail  at  another  place. 

Summary.  —  The  aim  of  a  reading  lesson  should  be  (i)  the  appre- 
ciation of  content  or  (2)  the  mastery  of  the  technique  of  expres- 
sion. Faulty  reading  may  be  due  to  (i)  hesitating  or  incorrect  word 
recognition,  (2)  lack  of  understanding  of  the  subject  matter,  or  (3) 
inabiHty  to  give  expressive  rendition,  (i)  may  be  overcome  by  care- 
ful study  of  phonics:  (2)  by  the  careful  selection  of  reading  matter 
and  a  proper  introduction  to  the  lesson;  (3)  by  formal  lessons  on 
the  technique  of  expression,  direct  imitation  being  most  frequently 
relied  upon. 

The  points  to  be  considered  in  a  reading  lesson  for  content  are: 
(i)  The  preparation.  By  question  and  answer  secure  emotional 
appreciation  and  grasping  of  central  thought.  (2)  Silent  reading 
by  pupils  under  the  direction  of  the  teacher.  The  children  ask  for 
help  on  pronunciation  and  meaning  of  words,  or  clearing  up  of  diffi- 
cult expressions.  The  teacher  asks  for  expressions  of  judgment  on 
the  content.  (3)  Drill  on  difficult  words  and  expressions.  (4)  The 
lesson  proper.  Is  the  lesson  shared?  Is  enough  attention  paid  to 
the  dull  children?  Is  the  class  reacting  on  the  material  presented? 
(5)  The  summary. 


CHAPTER  VI 
READING    TO    A    CLASS 

Many  valuable  suggestions  on  the  method  of  conducting  this 
kind  of  work  will  be  found  in  McMurry's  ''Special  Method  in 
Primary  Reading."  While  it  is  true  that  most  of  the  discussion 
apparently  applies  to  the  telling  of  stories,  a  topic  which  will  be 
discussed  later,  it  will  be  found  that  many  helpful  ideas  can 
be  gained  by  a  careful  study  of  this  book. 

The  general  aims  to  be  kept  in  mind  in  reading  to  pupils  are 
as  follows: 

1.  To  equip  the  children  with  a  knowledge  of  stories  which 
present  such  technical  difficulties  that  the  children  cannot  read 
them  unaided. 

2.  To  give  to  the  children  an  outline  of  the  content  which 
will  in  later  terms  be  read  by  them. 

3.  To  create  a  love  for  literature  that  will  form  an  urgent 
motive  for  their  reading. 

4.  To  furnish  models  of  classic  English  in  narration. 

5.  To  supply  a  basis  for  oral  composition  by  the  class. 

6.  To  give  models  of  expression. 

In  selecting  a  story,  the  teacher  should  consider  the  natural 
interests  of  the  children.  She  should  remember  that  a  story, 
to  be  interesting  to  children,  must  lead  up  to  a  climax,  that  it 
must  contain  a  wealth  of  detail,  and  that  children  are  able  to 
understand  selections  read  to  them  which  may  possess  a 
greater  degree  of  difficulty  than  those  they  are  able  to  read  for 
themselves.  The  reading  of  the  story  may  sometimes  be  pre- 
ceded by  an  informal  talk  by  the  teacher  on  the  content.  This 
may  deal  with  a  brief  account  of  the  central  character  of  the 


50  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

story,  if  that  character  be  historical,  or  a  description  of  the 
place  in  which  the  action  takes  place.  At  no  time  should  this 
introduction  degenerate  into  a  mere  lecture. 

If  the  story  that  is  to  be  read  by  the  children  is  a  very  long 
one  the  preparation  may  take  up  an  entire  period,  and  in  each 
successive  reading,  the  introduction  should  be  a  summary  either 
by  the  teacher  or,  preferably,  by  the  brightest  pupils,  of  that 
portion  of  the  story  which  has  already  been  read.  It  will  often 
be  found  valuable  to  continue  the  reading  only  up  to  a  point 
where  the  teacher  may  feel  assured  that  the  interest  of  the 
entire  class  has  been  thoroughly  aroused.  Then  if,  as  should 
be  the  case,  the  class  library  has  enough  copies  of  the  story, 
the  teacher  may  suggest  that  the  children  continue  the  reading 
of  the  story  for  themselves  at  home.  While  it  is  true  that  the 
reading  matter  may  in  many  places  be  too  difficult  for  the 
children,  the  strong  interest  which  has  been  created  will  carry 
them  over  many  obstacles  otherwise  insurmountable. 

The  teacher  should  be  so  thoroughly  familiar  with  the  story 
itself  that  during  her  reading  she  will  be  able  to  look  up  fre- 
quently from  the  book.  Nothing  can  equal  the  magnetic  power 
of  the  eye  for  holding  attention.  Nor  should  the  teacher  feel 
that  on  the  one  hand  she  must  read  every  word  of  the  story,  or, 
on  the  other  hand,  that  she  must  read  nothing  but  what  is  in 
the  story.  Frequently,  she  will  find  it  advisable  to  omit  passages 
which  in  her  opinion  would  divert  the  attention  of  the  children 
from  the  story  itself.  All  such  passages  should  be  carefully 
marked  in  advance,  and  the  gap  may  be  filled  in  her  own  words, 
talking  to  the  class  and  using  language  carefully  thought  out  in 
advance. 

At  another  time  where,  in  a  description,  details  are  missing, 
or  at  some  exciting  moment,  where  there  is  not  sufficient 
dwelling  upon  a  crisis  in  the  story,  the  teacher  may  expand. 
This  matter  of  invention,  however,  is  extremely  difficult,  and 
should  not  be  attempted  by  any  teacher  unless  she  has  carefully 


READING  TO  A  CLASS  51 

thought  out  what  she  intends  to  say.  Finally,  the  teacher  is 
not  to  suppose  that  there  is  any  sacredness  in  the  text  of  the 
story  as  it  is  before  her.  The  aim  is  to  interest  the  children  and 
to  give  them  complete  comprehension.  Therefore,  the  teacher 
may,  if  she  can  effect  the  substitution  without  halting  in  her 
reading  from  the  text,  simplify  the  language. 

To  the  beginner,  the  suggestion  may  be  made  that  in  the 
preparation  for  the  lesson  all  these  substitutions  should  be 
carefully  noted  by  interlined  words. 

The  teacher  may  interrupt  herself  in  her  reading  to  ask  ques- 
tions, calling  for  judgment  and  the  expression  of  appreciation. 
At  times  she  may  direct  her  questions  in  such  a  way  as  to  lead 
the  children  to  anticipate  what  is  going  to  happen.  Again,  she 
may  ask  children  to  step  to  the  board  to  draw  their  idea  of  some 
picture  as  it  has  been  presented  to  them  through  the  reading. 
At  another  place,  where  some  particularly  dramatic  scene  is 
described,  she  may  ask  a  number  of  children  to  come  to  the  front 
of  the  room  and  assume  the  poses  called  for  by  the  text,  so  as  to 
create  a  tableau  which  will  correspond  to  the  picture  described 
in  the  story.  At  times  she  will  pause  for  the  purpose  of  drawing 
from  the  mass  of  illustrative  material  in  the  form  of  pictures 
and  the  like,  which  she  should  always  have  at  hand,  those 
which  will  make  clearer  some  description  in  the  text.  These 
pictures  may  be  passed  rapidly  around  the  room,  or  if  large 
enough  to  be  seen  from  the  front  of  the  room,  may  be  shown  for 
a  few  minutes. 

One  of  the  most  effective  modes  of  reading  is  to  have  the 
teacher  dramatize  during  the  narration.  The  teacher  who  sits 
in  his  chair  and  merely  reads  to  the  class  misses  the  point  of  this 
work.  The  aim  is  to  make  more  vital  the  whole  matter  of  read- 
ing, and  it  should  be  remembered  that  in  point  of  inflection, 
enunciation,  expression,  and  dramatic  rendition,  the  teacher 
should  present  a  model  worthy  of  imitation  by  the  children. 
If  at  any  time  this  work  is  varied  by  having  children  instead  of 


52  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

the  teacher  do  the  reading,  care  should  be  taken  that  only  the 
best  readers  are  selected. 

This  work  must  be  carefully  distinguished  from  the  reading 
of  subject  matter  possessing  purely  informational  value  and 
intended  to  supplement  some  point  that  has  been  made  in  the 
course  of  a  lesson  in  history,  or  geography,  or  science. 

As  the  term  advances,  periods  in  oral  composition  may  be 
given  up  to  having  the  children  tell  in  their  own  language  the 
stories  previously  read  to  them  by  the  teacher.  Lists  may  be 
given  to  each  teacher  in  the  higher  grades,  of  the  stories  read  in 
the  lower  classes,  so  that  there  may  be  a  constant  review  which 
will  make  the  stories  form  a  part  of  the  children's  cultural  equip- 
ment. During  the  time  that  the  children  tell  their  stories,  the 
teacher  must  remember  the  old  adage  that  the  best  teacher  is 
the  dumb  teacher.  Of  course,  if  any  flagrant  errors  in  English 
are  made,  these  should  be  immediately  corrected;  but  the 
correction  should  be  given  in  so  occasional  and  incidental  a 
manner  that  the  thread  of  the  story  will  not  be  interrupted. 

Summary. — The  main  purposes  of  reading  to  pupils  are  (i)  to 
create  a  love  of  literature,  (2)  to  furnish  a  model  for  oral  expres- 
sion. The  selection  should  be  interesting.  It  may  be  graded  in 
difficulty  above  the  independent  reading  plane  of  the  children.  The 
preparation  should  stimulate  thought  so  as  to  make  the  listeners 
react  upon  the  material  presented.  The  reading  should  be  intimate, 
animated,  and  dramatic.  Interpolated  questions  by  teacher  and 
pupils  should  maintain  interest.  Oral  summaries  by  the  children 
should  be  called  for  to  test  comprehension. 


CHAPTER  VII 
STUDY    OF    THE    MASTERPIECE 

If  we  attempt  to  answer  in  an  intelligent  way  the  question, 
*'Why  should  the  masterpiece  be  studied  in  the  elementary 
schools?"  we  shall  perhaps  be  able  to  tell  better  what  aspects 
should  be  emphasized  in  the  teaching  of  the  masterpiece.  In 
the  first  place,  it  should  be  studied  because  such  study  has  a 
distinct  psychological  value.  It  requires  prolonged  attention, 
and  it  satisfies  the  desire  for  continued  narration  or  description. 
Secondly,  the  study  has  a  distinct  cultural  value.  It  is  an  in- 
troduction to  the  great  classics  of  our  language.  It  enriches  the 
entire  course  of  study.  And,  finally,  because  of  the  interest  in 
the  content  it  furnishes  a  motive  for  training  in  formal  English. 

The  study  of  the  masterpiece  should  come  late  in  the  ele- 
mentary school  curriculum.  For  this,  three  reasons  may  be 
adduced:  First,  it  is  difiicult  to  sustain  attention  for  the  long 
period  during  which  the  study  of  a  single  masterpiece  is  con- 
tinued. Secondly,  the  average  tone  of  the  ordinary  masterpiece 
selected  for  study  is  such  as  to  make  it  beyond  all  but  the  most  , 
mature  pupils  in  the  elementary  school.  Thirdly,  since  the 
main  purpose  is  cultural,  the  study  of  the  masterpiece  should 
appear  in  the  course  of  study  only  after  a  reasonable  degree  of 
mechanical  facility  in  reading  English  and  in  understanding 
difl&cult  expressions  has  been  attained. 

We  can  perhaps  best  understand  why  critical  study  is  desirable 
if  we  first  state  the  purposes  it  is  not  intended  to  subserve.  It 
is  a  waste  to  devote  the  time  set  aside  for  the  study  of  a  literary 
masterpiece  to  the  teaching  of  proper  reading  with  its  attendant 
drill  on  enunciation  and  expression.    The  great  danger  of  modem 


54  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

language  work  is  that  it  spreads  itself  over  too  large  an  area,  and, 
consequently,  lacks  depth  and  thoroughness.  We  treat  the 
English  branches  as  the  quartermaster  treats  the  much-abused 
army  mule.  He  sees  the  usefulness  of  the  animal  and  hastens 
to  pile  on  its  back  every  conceivable  kind  of  army  munition, 
from  the  wheel  of  a  cannon  to  a  case  of  canned  meat. 

There  is  need  of  concentration  in  our  language  work.  As 
we  have  already  suggested,  one  of  the  reading  lessons  in  the 
month  should  be  devoted  exclusively  to  drill  on  expression. 
The  drill  on  clear  enunciation  should  be  kept  separate.  Spelling 
should  be  taught  as  a  separate  branch  of  the  course  of  study, 
and  above  all,  the  period  for  Hterary  study  should  be  kept 
altogether  for  that  purpose.  If  we  attempt  to  teach  the  tech- 
nique of  reading  in  connection  with  the  literary  appreciation 
of  a  work  of  art,  we  may  fail  in  both.  Concentration  is  the 
secret  of  success  in  life.  Why  should  it  not  be  the  secret  of 
successful  methods? 

Moreover,  we  ruin  the  artistic  effect  that  it  is  our  aim  to 
secure.  Who  has  not  suffered  the  misery  of  listening  to  a 
bungling  reader  who  robs  anything  he  reads  of  what  Uterary 
merit  it  may  possess?  Since  it  is  necessary  that  many  portions 
of  the  literary  selection  shall  be  read,  it  may  be  laid  down  as  a 
fundamental  principle  that  either  the  teacher  will  read  to  the 
class  so  as  to  build  up  a  standard  of  good  reading,  or  else  that 
the  pupils  called  upon  should  be  those  of  whose  power  the 
teacher  is  reasonably  sure. 

Secondly,  it  should  not  be  our  aim  to  teach  form  primarily 
in  the  study  of  a  masterpiece.  Too  much  of  our  so-called 
literary  appreciation  is  nothing  but  formal  criticism  and  is 
purely  technical.  When  a  man  has  nothing  to  say  about  a 
work  of  art,  when  he  is  most  signally  lacking  in  appreciative 
insight,  he  has  recourse  to  criticism  of  technique.  Over-sensi- 
tiveness to  form  is  an  infallible  symptom  of  degeneration  in  art. 
The  center  of  literary  study  should  always  be  the  thought. 


STUDY  OF  THE  MASTERPIECE  55 

Critical  study^  of  a  work  of  literature  does  not  mean  the 
teaching  of  rhetorical  forms,  figures  of  speech,  rules  of  prosody, 
etc.  If  we  analyze  every  simile  and  name  it  and  trace  its 
inception  and  test  its  aptness,  we  will  lead  the  pupil  to  approach 
a  masterpiece  much  as  the  botanist  does  the  rose  —  with 
microscope  and  tweezers  so  close  that  he  loses  the  effect  of  the 
flower,  so  intent  on  the  magnified  petal  and  the  parasite  it 
carries  that  he  fails  to  notice  the  delicious  perfume  that  greets 
his  nostrils,  and  so  wrapt  up  in  the  parts  that  he  does  not  see 
the  rose  itself.  It  is  a  mistake  to  teach  the  figures  of  speech 
during  the  time  devoted  to  critical  study.  They  are  as  much 
formal  elements  as  are  infinitives,  participles,  and  phrases. 
They  should  be  studied  separately  and  distinctly,  with  illustra- 
tions properly  noted  from  the  best  literature.  How  this  can  be 
done  in  connection  with  the  work  in  composition,  will  be  shown 
later.  If  we  are  to  call  the  attention  of  the  pupil  to  figures  of 
speech  at  all  in  the  study  of  the  work  in  hand,  they  should  be 
tools  at  his  ready  disposal  before  he  comes  to  the  study  of  the 
literary  gem. 

The  true  aim  of  critical  study  should  be  to  secure  to  the  pupil 
the  ethical  and  aesthetic  effect  of  the  art  work,  to  aid  him  in 
analyzing  the  effects  produced  on  him,  and  to  show  him  how 
such  effects  are  secured  by  a  happy  choice  of  words,  by  apt 
illustrations,  by  beautiful  imagery,  impassioned  diction,  or  by 
the  infusion  of  the  artist's  individuality  into  his  work.  No 
literary  masterpiece  that  is  worth  presenting  to  children  is 
without  a  distinct  ethical  effect.  No  work  can  be  a  masterpiece 
unless  it  is  aesthetic. 

Let  it  not,  however,  be  imagined  that  it  is  our  purpose  to  teach 
ethics  and  aesthetics  as  such  to  the  children.  It  is  a  very  easy 
matter  to  encourage  children  to  think  thoughts  that  are  too 
complex  for  adequate  utterance.  What  we  must  do  is  to  culti- 
vate the  feeling  for  what  is  good  and  noble  and  inspiring  and 
thus  indirectly  to  cultivate  sympathy  with  goodness,  nobility, 


56  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

and  true  inspiration  in  life.  Just  as  the  end  we  wish  to  attain 
is  without  definite  bounds  so  should  our  work  be  free  and  in- 
spiring and  as  far  as  possible  from  the  cut  and  dried  rigidity 
of  formalism  and  grammatical  analysis.  Over  elaboration,  too 
minute  study,  these  are  the  pitfalls  which  the  teacher  should 
avoid. 

In  the  selection  of  a  suitable  literary  work  let  there  not  be 
too  much  regard  for  correlation  with  other  subjects  of  the  grade. 
Unity  in  grade  work  is  desirable,  but  there  is  great  danger  of 
overdoing  the  matter  and  making  the  work  monotonous.  Let 
us  attempt  to  correlate  with  the  pupil's  thinking  rather  than 
with  his  studies. 

However  untenable  in  all  its  imphcations  may  be  the  so-called 
cultural  epoch  theory,  it  is  perhaps  safe  to  say  that  a  certain 
development  is  noticeable  in  children's  taste  in  reading.  In  the 
fourth  year,  interest  centers  mainly  on  wonder  working,  super- 
natural beings.  In  the  fifth  year  of  school  life,  the  child  burns 
with  eagerness  to  read  about  adventures  in  unknown  regions. 
The  sixth  year  of  school  course  seems  to  be  the  period  for  a  more 
subjective  interest  to  show  itself,  and  tales  of  personal  valor  are 
the  most  sought  after.  In  the  seventh  year,  when  the  critical 
study  is  specifically  to  be  taken  up,  what  most  interests  the 
children  is  a  story  of  self-sacrifice  or  one  of  success  in  the  face 
of  almost  insurmountable  obstacles;  and  in  the  eighth  year  it 
would  seem  that  stories  that  tell  of  intrigues  and  plots  make  the 
strongest  appeal. 

Arbitrary  as  this  classification  is  to  a  large  extent,  it  is  helpful 
as  a  guide  in  the  choice  of  the  masterpiece.  At  all  events  from 
the  teacher's  point  of  view,  the  work  selected  must  possess  some 
embodiment  of  ethical  principle.  The  greatest  care  should  be 
taken  that  the  principle  be  a  positive  one  and  that  it  be  not 
beyond  the  complete  comprehension  of  the  children.  The 
masterpiece  selected  should  be  ''the  expression  of  the  expulsive 
power  of  a  higher  emotion."    It  should  supply  high  ideals  of 


STUDY  OF  THE  MASTERPIECE  57 

conduct;  it  should  have  true  literary  value;  its  structure 
should  be  firm  and  evident;  its  language  should  be  suggestive 
in  the  highest  sense;  its  theme  should  be  uplifting;  its  appeal 
should  be  universal  yet  personal. 

Frequently  in  suggested  methods  of  studying  a  long  master- 
piece, several  readings  are  recommended.  In  one  outline,  three 
readings  are  suggested.  First,  it  is  said  that  there  should  be  a 
reading  for  general  conception.  Some  portions  are  to  be  read 
by  the  teacher  for  the  purpose  of  creating  a  right  atmosphere. 
Other  portions  are  to  be  read  aloud  by  the  pupils  in  the  class. 
Minor  portions  are  to  be  read  by  the  pupils  at  home.  This  is 
followed  by  a  second  reading  for  the  more  careful  treatment  of 
important  parts,  the  aim  being  to  bring  about  appreciation 
of  the  beauty  of  the  selection  rather  than  to  accumulate  a  fund 
of  information  regarding  words  or  allusions.  A  third  reading  is 
suggested  for  effective  oral  rendering  of  those  parts  of  the  selec- 
tion which  make  special  appeal  to  the  pupil's  imagination  and 
sympathy. 

As  has  been  reiterated  in  connection  with  practically  every 
subject  in  our  treatment  of  the  teaching  of  English,  the  principle 
that  should  underlie  all  method  in  literature  is  that  there  must 
be  in  the  mind  of  the  child  an  urgent  motive  for  every  step  in 
the  study.  The  great  question  which  the  teacher  should  ask 
herself  is  "What  are  the  interests  that  the  children  have  upon 
which  I  can  act? "  Such  inquiry  brings  to  light  the  presence 
of  two  dominant  interests  upon  which  the  method  of  teaching 
the  masterpiece  is  to  proceed.  First,  there  is  an  interest  in  the 
entire  story.  Secondly,  there  is  an  interest  in  the  best  possible 
rendition  of  passages  that  appeal  to  the  imagination  and  sym- 
pathy of  the  pupil.  Here  all  study  of  meanings,  etc.,  is  sub- 
ordinated to  the  motive  of  adequate  oral  rendition. 

The  study  of  the  masterpiece  may  then  more  properly  be 
conducted  in  two  readings,  the  aim  of  each  being  determined  by 
that  motive  or  interest  of  the  children  which  the  reading  is 


58  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

intended  to  meet.  At  the  first  reading,  there  should  be  a  general 
introduction,  the  purpose  of  which  should  be  to  create  the  right 
atmosphere.  The  pupils  may  be  encouraged  to  prepare  blank 
books  in  which  they  will  write  accounts  of  the  author,  besides 
the  circumstances  under  which  the  work  was  produced.  In 
addition  they  may  collect  pictures  which  with  appropriate  sub- 
scriptions will  make  an  interesting  scrap-book.  The  teacher 
should  by  anticipation  suggest  the  general  theme  of  the  story. 
Of  course,  in  the  reading  of  a  play  the  suspense  should  be  main- 
tained by  having  the  children  continually  on  the  qui  vive  for 
the  outcome  of  the  plot.  There  should  be  an  alternation  of 
narration  and  direct  quotation.  Sometimes  the  teacher  will 
tell  the  story;  sometimes  she  will  read.  Frequently,  some  of 
the  best  readers  of  the  class  may  be  called  upon  to  continue  the 
reading  of  the  story,  but  all  the  questioning  in  this  part  of  the 
work  should  tend  to  make  clear  the  sequence  of  the  story  and 
the  general  lesson  or  the  general  effect  which  it  produces.  There 
need  be  no  assigned  home  reading.  Whatever  part  of  the  story 
is  taken  up  in  the  class  room  should  be  new  to  the  pupils.  Each 
new  reading  should  begin  with  a  skilful  review  of  the  earlier 
portions  which  will  blend  naturally  into  the  part  to  be  taken 
up  in  this  particular  lesson.  By  careful  preparation,  the  teacher 
can  decide  upon  stopping  places  at  dynamic  points  in  the  story, 
the  aim  being  to  carry  over  the  interest  at  highest  tension  from 
period  to  period.  There  should  be  constant  appeal  to  the  judg- 
ment of  the  pupils. 

When  the  story  has  been  gone  through  in  this  way,  a  summary 
may  be  called  for  from  the  best  pupils.  It  is  not  always  neces- 
sary that  this  be  actually  written.  Such  a  recapitulation  of  a 
masterpiece  may  involve  so  much  work  as  to  degenerate  into 
drudgery.  Nor  is  it  essential  that  the  children  should  paraphrase 
any  part  of  the  story.  If  the  work  is  a  masterpiece  its  own  word- 
ing is  inevitable  and  any  attempt  which  the  pupils  make  to  put 
the  same  thought  in  words  of  their  own,  always  means  lowering 


STUDY  OF  THE  MASTERPIECE  59 

the  literary  value.  Compositions,  however,  may  be  written 
based  upon  problems  suggested  in  the  course  of  the  reading. 

The  second  reading  of  the  masterpiece  should  be  of  parts 
which  the  class  selects  as  being  worth  study  in  greater  detail. 
Skilful  direction  by  the  teacher  will  result  in  the  right  choice 
and  at  the  same  time  will  develop  the  right  standards  in  the 
pupils.  If  the  understanding  of  the  life  of  the  author  is  neces- 
sary to  an  understanding  of  the  masterpiece,  the  biography 
should  be  taken  up  before  the  second  reading;  otherwise  it  may 
be  postponed  until  after  the  study  of  the  masterpiece  is  com- 
pleted. Although  some  teachers  advocate  the  use  of  the  dic- 
tionary continually  in  the  study  of  the  masterpiece,  it  may  be 
well  at  the  beginning  to  have  the  children  merely  guess  the 
meaning  of  words  from  the  context,  and  to  assign  for  home  work 
the  checking. up  of  this  guessing  by  reference  to  the  dictionary. 
Grammatical  analysis  should  be  resorted  to  only  when  a  con- 
struction is  particularly  obscure  and  when  the  analysis  will 
result  in  making  the  thought  clearer.  Allusions  which  are  of 
merely  passing  interest  should  be  incidentally  explained  by  the 
teacher.  Where  they  open  interesting  lines  of  thought  and 
investigation,  they  should  be  assigned  for  research  work. 

Poor  readers  should  not  be  allowed  to  take  up  the  time  of  the 
class.  At  the  periods  regularly  given  for  drill  in  formal  reading, 
these  pupils  may  be  helped  to  overcome  their  shortcomings. 
It  is  desirable  that  parts  of  the  masterpiece  be  assigned  for 
memorizing.  It  will  be  found  best  to  place  a  minimum  number 
of  Hnes  to  be  memorized  each  week,  and  to  have  the  pupils  select 
their  own  memory  gems.  Finally,  it  may  be  said  that  the 
measure  of  success  which  the  teacher  meets  in  the  study  of 
the  masterpiece  is  not  a  calculable  quantity.  The  best  result 
is  not  a  high  percent  in  an  examination  but  rather  a  high  degree 
of  enthusiasm  for  literature. 

From  all  that  has  been  said,  one  may  well  be  led  to  suppose 
that  the  most  important  matter  in  the  teaching  of  English  is  a 


6o  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

knowledge  of  a  correct  method.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  teaching 
in  this  present  year  of  grace  is  suffering  from  the  curse  of  too 
much  method.  The  latest  graduate  from  normal  or  training 
school  talks  glibly  of  principles  of  education  and  dabbles  freely 
in  the  technical  jargon  of  methodology,  juggling  with  polysyl- 
labic compounds  and  sonorous  phrases,  and  yet  too  frequently 
lays  bare  great  gaps  in  the  knowledge  of  the  subject  matter  she 
is  endeavoring  to  present. 

No  thinking  teacher  will  minimize  the  value  of  an  intimate 
acquaintance  with  the  thought-processes  of  the  children  before 
her;  nevertheless  there  is  no  factor  more  productive  of  poor 
teaching  than  a  supreme  reliance  upon  the  efficacy  of  this  or 
that  method  as  the  sole  medium  of  successful  presentation.  In 
the  last  analysis,  no  plan,  however  sound  in  its  basis  in  child- 
psychology,  can  take  the  place  of  a  well-grounded  mass  of  in- 
formation. The  teacher  with  a  full  equipment  of  broad  culture 
will  always  outshine  the  mere  methodist.  In  the  present  era  of 
educational  reform  the  tendency  is  far  too  strong  in  the  direction 
of  minute  study  of  formal  steps  and  devices  and  modes-  of 
*' concretizing,"  and  to  a  corresponding  degree  is  deplorably 
weak  in  the  importance  attached  to  a  first-hand  knowledge  of 
the  subject  matter.  In  many  quarters  the  feehng  is  spreading 
that  a  good  method  is  the  only  prerequisite  to  good  teaching. 
Methods  are  vital,  yes;  but  no  less  so  is  broad  and  accurate 
information. 

The  kind  of  knowledge  of  which  the  teacher  should  be  pos- 
sessed is  determined  by  the  general  aim  subserved  by  the  pres- 
ence of  a  subject  in  the  course  of  study.  In  nature  study, 
where  the  purpose  is  to  awaken  in  the  child  a  sympathetic 
appreciation  of  the  wonders  of  the  natural  world,  leading  him 
through  knowledge  to  reverence,  the  teacher  should  be  equipped 
not  with  a  symbolic  agglomeration  of  facts  as  collected  in  a 
printed  page,  but  with  the  truer  insight  into  Nature's  processes 
that  comes  only  to  him  who  with  open  mind  goes  forth  under 


STUDY  OF  THE  MASTERPIECE  6l 

the  open  sky  to  list  to  Nature's  teachings.  History  develops 
character  through  the  study  of  notable  types,  and  gives  civic 
power  through  a  right  judgment  of  past  events.  To  present  the 
subject  properly,  the  teacher  must  have  at  ready  command  so 
detailed  a  fund  of  information  that  as  she  stands  before  her 
class  every  character  is  a  living  personality  in  her  mind,  and 
every  historical  event  is  an  inevitable  link  in  a  closely  connected 
causal  chain.  So  in  Hterature,  and  particularly  in  the  teaching 
of  a  masterpiece  in  the  last  two  years  of  the  course,  the  aim  is  to 
realize  through  emotional  and  intellectual  appreciation  an  active 
love  of  the  higher  forms  of  literary  art  —  a  love  which  shall 
find  expression  in  self-direction  toward  the  classics,  accompanied 
by  a  rejection  of  the  tawdry  and  the  superficial.  Only  by  him 
who  hath  can  be  given.  The  teacher  who  does  not  feel  an  im- 
pelling love  of  the  beautiful  in  literature,  the  teacher  who  does 
not  know  of  her  own  knowledge  why  this  is  a  classic  and  that 
mere  clap-trap,  such  a  teacher  can  never  be  successful  in  her 
work,  be  the  method  what  it  may.  The  former  characteristic  is 
essentially  emotional  and  therefore  is  incommunicable;  the  latter 
is  simply  a  matter  of  culture  and  can  be  achieved  by  any  one. 

With  a  realization  of  the  importance  of  this  sort  of  equipment, 
it  is  our  purpose  in  discussing  a  masterpiece  to  show  exactly 
what  a  teacher  should  know  of  the  author  and  the  work  if  she 
is  to  feel  ready  to  teach  intelUgently.  Nothing  is  further  from 
our  intention  than  to  suggest  that  this  information  is  to  be 
given  in  whole  or  even  in  large  part  to  the  class.  It  is  an 
adult's  appreciation  of  a  Uterary  work  and  can  only  indirectly 
color  the  teaching.  For  our  first  illustration  we  shall  consider 
the  study  of  the  "Courtship  of  Miles  Standish"  as  taken  up  in 
the  seventh  year. 

By  way  of  preface  it  may  be  said  that  the  facts  of  Longfellow's 
Ufe  and  the  circumstances  surrounding  the  writing  of  the  poem 
in  question  should  be  famiUar  to  the  teacher.  Any  good  edition 
of  the  work  will  give  this  information. 


62  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

The  life  of  Henry  Wadsworth  Longfellow  falls  naturally  into 
two  more  or  less  clearly  defined  periods.  The  first  is  that  of 
preparation  and  extends  from  childhood  to  the  close  of  1836 
when  he  entered  upon  the  duties  of  his  professorship  at  Harvard. 
The  second  is  that  of  his  maturity,  the  period  of  his  productive- 
ness, which  continued  with  breaks  for  almost  two  generations. 
For  our  present  purpose  the  first  period  is  of  greater  importance. 

There  can  be  no  questioning  of  the  fact  that  Longfellow  was 
the  most  favored  of  the  New  England  writers.  He  started  Hfe 
with  many  advantages.  His  home  surroundings  were  of  a  kind 
to  encourage  any  taste  for  Uterary  pursuits  which  he  might 
develop;  and  while  this  is  to  some  extent  true  of  all  the  men  who 
made  up  the  Boston  coterie  during  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  unusually  favorable  conditions  are  to  be  met  with  in 
the  case  of  Longfellow.  At  no  time  did  he  suffer  financial 
embarrassment.  He  never  enjoyed  great  wealth,  yet  when  a 
trip  to  Europe  was  mentioned  as  necessary  to  an  appointment  at 
Bowdoin,  the  money  was  forthcoming,  though  we  are  led  to 
beheve  by  passages  in  his  letters  that  some  domestic  economy 
was  necessary.  In  his  parents  Longfellow  found  appreciative 
critics,  and,  moreover,  minds  which  could  share  his  pleasure  in 
his  work. 

From  his  Journal  we  learn  that  he  had  a  truly  poetic  apprecia- 
tion of  the  beauty  of  nature.  His  mind  was  ever  open.  He 
glories  in  a  beautiful  day  and  basks  in  the  mellowing  sunshine 
of  the  summer  sun.  The  song  of  the  first  returning  bird  in  the 
spring  is  an  event  worth  recording.  Most  particularly  does  he 
note  the  blue  skies  of  early  autumn.  And  yet  we  remark  certain 
deficiencies  in  the  entries.  We  find  no  discussion  of  deep 
problems,  and  yet  America  was  at  this  period  passing  through  a 
maelstrom  of  intellectual  and  poUtical  changes.  Nowhere  do 
we  come  upon  expressions  of  the  inevitable  doubts  that  assail 
the  profound  thinker.  He  lives  his  life  without  apparent 
worriment.     Most  of  his  records  tell  of  his  books,  his  friends, 


STUDY  OF  THE  MASTERPIECE  63 

and  the  success  that  greeted  the  publication  of  his  volume  of 
poems. 

There  is  a  world  of  difference  between  "occasional"  poems 
and  poetry  which  is  the  forced  expression  of  great  emotions. 
Like  the  lava  of  an  active  volcano,  the  latter  breaks  its  outlet 
for  itself  and  pours  beyond  all  bounds.  Longfellow's  poetry  is 
mainly  "occasional."  Where  it  is  emotional,  how  simple  is  the 
state  of  mind  he  seeks  to  express!  And  in  this  very  simplicity 
lies  the  secret  of  his  popularity  with  the  middle  classes.  At 
times,  as  in  "The  Spanish  Student,"  he  displays  a  true  poetic 
fervor  and  he  writes  in  the  heat  of  inspiration.  But  even  here 
it  is  not  the  white  heat;  it  is  only  a  warm  glow. 

Out  of  the  fulness  of  his  life  comes  the  work  of  the  poet. 
Longfellow's  life  glided  on  like  a  river,  darkened  here  and  there 
by  shadows  of  earth,  but  nowhere  tumultuous  or  dashing. 
We  note  with  him  as  with  Hawthorne,  the  almost  total 
lack  of  active  sympathy  with  the  great  movement  making  for 
the  abolition  of  slavery.  All  is  calm  and  quiet.  The  character 
of  the  man's  work  is  to  a  great  extent  determined  by  his  experi- 
ences in  life.  What  a  man  becomes  is  conditioned  no  less  by 
the  experiences  he  encounters  than  by  the  native  quahties  he 
possesses.  Some  of  these  reactions  upon  his  environment  reveal 
undreamed  potentialities.  Like  the  acid  on  the  old  parchment, 
they  bring  to  light  the  hidden  treasures  of  the  past.  No  man 
can  attain  to  the  sublime  who  has  not  passed  through  a  period 
of  storms  and  stress  —  who  has  not  met  temptation  and  con- 
quered it  —  who  has  not  fought  life's  battle  to  the  very  end. 
A  calm  hfe  never  produced  works  of  powerful  genius.  "  Paradise 
Lost"  and  "Samson  Agonistes"  would  not  be  what  they  are 
had  not  Milton  fought  the  two  great  battles  —  one  for  his 
countrymen  against  oppression,  the  other  for  himself  against 
doubt  and  loss  of  faith.  Where  a  strong  human  interest  attaches 
to  any  work  we  may  be  sure  that  the  creator  of  the  work  has 
himself   passed   through   soul-racking   emotional   experiences. 


64  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

Much  of  the  intensity  of  the  pre-Shakespearean  dramatists  can 
in  a  sense  be  traced  to  the  kind  of  life  they  led. 

Longfellow  passed  a  life  of  such  even  tenor  that  one  day  was 
almost  the  counterpart  of  every  other.  In  a  college  town,  sur- 
rounded by  friends,  meeting  strangers  only  occasionally,  now  and 
then  traveling  abroad  —  he  had  few  strong  emotions  in  life. 
Yet  while  this  environment  set  narrow  bounds  to  his  poetic 
expression,  there  was  a  great  compensation.  We  find  a  strong 
moral  force  in  his  work.  He  had  the  time  and  the  opportunity 
to  turn  his  attention  inward  and  examine  his  motives.  Where 
there  are  a  good  heart  and  a  strong  reHgious  foundation  in  the 
man,  such  introspection  can  result  only  in  strengthening  of  the 
moral  fibers  and  in  elevation  of  the  self  toward  a  higher  ideal. 
Longfellow  had  a  good  heart.  He  was  tender,  yet  not  effemi- 
nate. His  bearing  toward  his  equals  was  sympathetic;  while 
to  those  below  him  he  was  kindly,  simple,  and  never  overbearing. 
He  had  the  faculty  of  making  many  close  friends  and  no  man, 
so  blest,  can  lack  strong  moral  traits. 

He  had  experienced  sorrow  in  his  Hfe.  As  he  says,  ''the  first 
pressure  of  sorrow  crushes  out  from  our  hearts  the  best  wine." 
In  the  poems  written  during  the  years  of  affliction  there  is  a  note 
of  hope  and  faith.  He  was  too  firmly  reHgious  to  be  a  pessimist. 
We  read  his  saddest  poems  and  yet  are  Hfted  up  by  the  tone  of 
resignation.  We  feel  the  melancholy,  yet  Hke  the  poet,  we 
never  succumb;  "behind  the  clouds  is  the  sun  still  shining." 
He  never  permitted  sorrow  to  press  on  him  with  constant 
weight;  had  he  done  so,  when  the  wine  was  all  gone,  the  pressure 
might  have  brought  forth  bitterness  from  his  soul  —  ''the  taste 
and  stain  from  the  lees  of  the  vat." 

Imagination  was  the  ruling  power  of  Longfellow's  mind. 
He  Uved  in  a  world  which  he  constructed  for  himself.  All  the 
commonplace  experiences  of  Ufe  recalled  to  him  scenes  from  the 
half -forgot  ten  tales  he  had  so  eagerly  read,  and  picture  succeeded 
picture  imtil  the  original  scene  was  forgotten  and  the  poet,  lost 


STUDY  OF  THE  MASTERPIECE  65 

in  reverie,  was  transported  to  a  new  world.  No  better  charac- 
terization of  this  phase  of  Longfellow  can  be  made  than  that 
which  he  gives  of  himself  under  the  name  of  Paul  Flemming  in 
"Hyperion."  "His  thoughts  were  twin-bom;  the  thought 
itself,  and  its  figurative  semblance  in  the  outer  world.  Thus, 
through  the  quiet,  still  waters  of  his  soul  each  image  floated 
double,  *swan  and  shadow.'"  No  trait  of  Longfellow's  poetry- 
is  more  prominent  than  this.  In  his  earUer  poems  we  find  the 
twinship  estabUshed  even  in  mechanical  details.  In  "The  Light 
of  Stars,"  for  example,  we  first  have  an  introductory  stanza 
describing  the  scene;  then  come  four  stanzas  given  to  the  de- 
scription of  the  red  star  blazing  in  the  southeast  —  the  symbol 
of  defiant  strength.    There  is  a  transitional  stanza,  beginning, 

"0  star  of  strength,  I  see  thee  stand," 

which  shows  the  effect  of  the  star  upon  the  mind  of  the  watching 
poet,  and  then  follow  four  stanzas  which  give  the  double  or 
spiritual  application  of  the  original  idea.  The  earlier  poems,  of 
course,  show  this  dupHcation  more  markedly  than  do  the  more 
mature  products  of  later  years.  In  the  "Beleaguered  City" 
(1839)  the  gemination  extends  to  the  use  of  the  same  words 
wherever  possible.  "The  Rainy  Day"  shows  in  the  first  two 
stanzas  a  perfect  paralleUsm,  while  the  third  is  the  expression 
of  a  hope  which  fits  equally  well  into  either  half  of  the  original 
thought. 

So  much  for  the  personality  of  the  poet  and  the  general  trend 
of  his  work.  Let  us  now  turn  to  a  consideration  of  the  specific 
poem  we  are  preparing  to  teach. 

Although  Longfellow's  mind  was  beset  with  grave  doubts  on 
the  subject,  his  "Hiawatha,"  "a  poem  on  the  American  Indians 
.  .  .  which  was  to  weave  together  their  beautiful  traditions 
into  a  whole,"  proved  to  be  an  immediate  success.  It  is  possible 
that  this  experience  made  him  more  ready  to  occupy  himself 
with  another  subject  of  American  life.    His  theory  of  a  national 


66  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

literature  was  one  based  not  on  the  geography  of  the  country, 
but  on  the  expression  of  national  tendencies.  He  says,  "In 
surveying  a  national  literature  the  point  you  must  start  from  is 
a  national  character."  And  nowhere  in  America  was  there  a 
homogeneous  element  better  fitted  to  produce  a  common  type 
with  common  tendencies  than  in  New  England.  It  was  to  this 
phase  of  our  history,  therefore,  that  Longfellow  naturally  turned. 
At  any  rate,  when,  a  few  weeks  after  the  publication  of  "Hia- 
watha," one  of  his  friends  urged  him  to  write  a  poem  on  the 
Puritans  and  the  Quakers,  he  remarked,  "A  good  subject  for  a 
tragedy,"  and  began  looking  over  books  which  would  give  him 
incidents.  He  read  Dr.  Young's  "Chronicles  of  the  Pilgrim 
Fathers"  and  Mr.  C.  W.  Eliot's  "History  of  New  England," 
the  latter  an  attempt  to  reconstruct  the  interior,  household  life 
in  greater  detail  than  had  been  achieved  by  others. 

The  first  evidence  of  this  interest  was  the  beginning  of  "The 
New  England  Tragedies,"  the  third  part  of  the  Trilogy  entitled 
"Christus:  A  Mystery."  Then  it  would  seem  that  as  an 
alternative,  lighter  work  he  began  a  drama,  "The  Courtship  of 
Miles  Standish."  Later  he  modified  this  to  a  "kind  of  Puritan 
pastoral,"  under  the  name  of  "Priscilla"  and  finally,  in  1858, 
he  proceeded  steadily  with  the  work,  finishing  it  in  two  months 
and  giving  it  the  name  it  now  bears.  We  are  told  that  the  in- 
cident of  Priscilla's  reply,  on  which  the  story  turns,  was  a  tradi- 
tion, and  that  additional  interest  attaches  to  the  story  because 
John  Alden  was  a  maternal  ancestor  of  the  poet.  "Longfellow 
did  not  think  it  necessary  to  follow  the  early  Plymouth  history 
with  scrupulous  reference  to  chronology;  it  was  sufiicient  for 
him  to  catch  the  broad  features  of  the  colonial  life  and  to  repro- 
duce the  spirit  of  the  relations  existing  between  Plymouth  and 
the  Indians." 

While  in  all  our  appreciation  of  a  literary  work,  we  should 
endeavor  to  accept  the  product  within  the  limitations  set  by 
the  author,  for  our  purposes  it  is  necessary  to  know  something 


STUDY  OF  THE  MASTERPIECE  67 

of  the  historical  basis  out  of  which  Longfellow  evolved  the  story 
presented  in  the  poem  to  be  studied.  Miles  Standish  was  a 
Pilgrim  soldier,  born  about  1584,  in  Lancashire,  England.  He 
had  served  as  a  soldier  in  the  Netherlands  and  although  not  a 
member  of  the  church,  was  chosen  captain  of  the  New  Plymouth 
settlers.  By  his  summary  treatment  of  hostile  Indians  he 
inspired  them  with  awe  for  the  English.  His  wife.  Rose  Stand- 
ish, was  one  of  the  victims  of  the  famine  and  fever  of  162 1.  In 
1625  he  visited  England  as  agent  for  the  colony  and  brought 
supplies  the  next  year.  In  1626  Standish  settled  in  Duxbury, 
Massachusetts,  where  he  lived  the  remainder  of  his  days, 
administering  the  office  of  magistrate  or  assistant.  He  died 
October  3,  1656.  A  monument  was  been  erected  to  his  memory 
on  Captain's  Hill,  Duxbury.  In  Pilgrim  Hall,  Plymouth,  are 
preserved,  among  other  relics  of  the  Pilgrims,  Standish's  sword 
and  the  barrel  of  his  musket. 

John  Alden  was  bom  in  England  in  1599;  he  was  employed 
as  a  cooper  in  Southampton  and,  having  been  engaged  to  repair 
the  Mayflower  while  awaiting  the  embarkation  of  the  Pilgrims, 
concluded  to  join  the  company.  It  has  been  stated  by  some  that 
he  was  the  first  to  step  on  Plymouth  Rock.  After  his  marriage, 
in  162 1,  he  settled  in  Duxbury,  and  for  more  than  fifty  years  he 
was  a  magistrate  in  the  colony,  outliving  all  the  signers  of  the 
Mayflower  compact.     He  died  in  Duxbury,  September  12,  1687. 

The  verse  form  that  Longfellow  adopted  in  "The  Courtship 
of  Miles  Standish"  is  known  as  dactylic  hexameter,  unrhymed. 
It  consists  of  six  accented  syllables,  each  of  the  first  five  in  the 
type  line  being  followed  by  two  unaccented  syllables,  the  sixth 
by  a  single  unaccented  syllable.  He  had  experimented  in  it, 
in  his  translation  of  "The  Children  of  the  Lord's  Supper,"  and 
in  his  lines  "To  the  Driving  Cloud."  From  the  outset  he  had 
no  hesitation  in  selecting  it  as  the  meter  for  "  Evangeline."  He 
chanced  upon  a  specimen  in  Blackwood  of  a  hexameter  transla- 
tion of  the  "Iliad,"  and  expressed  himself  very  emphatically  on 


68  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

its  fitness.  "The  English  world  is  not  yet  awake  to  the  beauty 
of  that  meter."  His  use  of  it  had  much  to  do  with  the  revival 
of  the  measure.  Holmes  said,  "The  hexameter  has  often  been 
criticized,  but  I  do  not  believe  any  other  measure  could  have 
told  that  lovely  story  with  such  effect  as  we  feel  when  carried 
along  the  tranquil  current  of  these  brimming,  slow-moving, 
soul-satisfying  Hnes.  .  .  .  The  poet  knows  better  than  his  critics 
the  length  of  step  which  best  befits  his  muse." 

The  hexameter  verse  in  "Miles  Standish "  differs  in  its  general 
effect  from  that  produced  by  the  more  stately  form  used  in 
"Evangeline"  through  its  greater  elasticity.  "A  crispness  of 
touch  is  gained  by  a  more  varying  accent  and  a  freer  use  of 
trochees."  It  would  be  well  to  have  a  class  feel  the  rhythmic 
lilt  of  the  verse  and  compare  it  with  the  sedate  movement  of 
the  earlier  poem,  as  also  with  the  rhymed  and  shorter  Hnes  of 
other  narratives  in  verse. 

The  tale  is  told  in  nine  parts,  each  working  up  to  a  climax. 
The  opening  characterization  of  Miles  Standish  is  clean  cut  and 
definite,  while  the  second  section,  "Love  and  Friendship," 
presents  in  its  very  title  the  essence  of  the  conflict  which  is  to 
form  the  center  of  interest.  From  these  introductory  cantos, 
if  they  may  be  so  called,  the  movement  is  simple  and  progressive. 
"The  Lover's  Errand"  throws  the  attention  over  to  John  Alden 
and  accordingly  we  find  the  fourth  part  devoted  to  him  and  to  a 
setting  forth  of  his  troubled  state  of  mind  resulting  from  the 
answer  he  had  received  from  Priscilla.  The  action  advances 
once  more  in  Part  V,  treating  of  the  sailing  of  the  Mayflower y 
and  is  then  halted  that  the  third  characterization,  that  of 
Priscilla,  may  fairly  set  forth  the  last  of  the  principal  actors  in 
the  little  drama.  The  next  two  cantos  give  a  parallel  course  of 
events,  the  first  dealing  with  Standish,  the  second  with  Priscilla 
and  John  Alden,  under  the  title  of  "The  Spinning  Wheel."  The 
pretty  idyllic  scene  is  rudely  interrupted  by  the  messenger 
bringing  in  hurry  and  heat  the  terrible  news  from  the  village 


STUDY  OF  THE  MASTERPIECE  69 

that  Miles  Standish  is  dead.  The  lovers,  kept  apart  by  the 
reluctant  loyalty  of  Alden,  are  united,  and  the  last  canto,  "The 
Wedding  Day,"  ends  with  a  beautiful  picture  rendered  all  the 
more  complete  by  the  entrance  of  the  bewildered  captain.  Such 
is  a  crude  analysis  of  the  poem,  into  the  parts  that  should  be 
kept  distinct  by  the  teacher  in  her  presentation. 

It  has  already  been  said  that  the  method  to  be  followed  in  the 
teaching  is  determined  by  the  interests  of  the  children.  At  this 
point  we  shall  go  even  further.  It  is  inadvisable  to  advocate 
any  one  method  for  the  treatment  of  the  different  kinds  of 
classics  to  be  studied  in  the  last  years  of  the  elementary  school 
course.  Two  considerations  determine  any  method:  First, 
right  appreciation  of  the  psychology  of  apprehension;  secondly, 
a  correct  valuation  of  the  subject  matter. 

In  a  broad  way,  education  has  begun  to  adjust  itself  to  the 
newer  point  of  view  which  places  the  child  and  the  child's 
interest  at  the  center  of  the  educational  scheme.  But  we  have 
not  yet  realized  all  the  implications  of  this  theory  in  the  field 
of  method.  Three  readings,  or  two,  or  even  four,  —  the 
number  itself  has  no  magic  potency.  The  important  point  is 
that  there  shall  be  just  as  many  readings,  and  only  as  many 
as  are  necessary  to  meet  an  urgent  demand  on  the  part  of  the 
children.  The  nature  of  this  demand  is  determined  by  the 
character  of  the  selection.  "Julius  Caesar"  has  its  gripping 
hold  on  the  attention  of  the  children  because  of  the  story. 
Three  readings  will  kill  this  interest  and  make  the  study 
degenerate  into  a  dead  delivery  of  the  printed  word.  Similarly, 
"Miles  Standish"  is  a  pretty  little  story  and  for  the  normal 
child  there  are  but  two  definite  motives  impelling  him  to  its 
study.  These  are,  first,  the  interest  in  the  story  for  its  own 
sake;  secondly,  the  desire  to  reread  passages  here  and  there 
because  of  the  appealing  nature  of  the  verse,  or  of  the 
dramatic  situation  portrayed.  Since  better  understanding 
intellectually  is  always  a  key  to  fuller  emotional  appreciation, 


h 


70  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

the  second  interest  as  a  final  aim  is  the  impelhng  motive  to  a 
text-study  which  would  otherwise  be  dull  and  meaningless. 
The  plan  of  study  that  is  here  laid  down  is  designed  to  furnish 
material  for  the  educative  satisfaction  of  these  motives. 

It  is  necessary  that  the  class  first  understand  the  mode  of 
living  of  the  early  Plymouth  settlers.  In  the  presentation  it  is 
well  to  quote  wherever  possible  from  the  poem  itself.  Two  or 
three  lessons  should  suffice  for  a  review  of  the  historical  facts, 
with  which  the  class  is  already  familiar,  for  a  characterization 
of  the  leading  personages  in  the  story,  such  as  is  given  above, 
and  for  an  account  of  the  customs  and  occupations  of  the  early 
settlers.  Concrete  illustrations  should  abound.  A  series  of 
pictures  from  the  advertised  collections  of  some  of  the  large 
picture  pubUshing  companies  should  be  suitably  mounted  and 
kept  continually  on  view.  References  should  be  made  to  them; 
it  will  frequently  be  found  that  a  long  explanation  may  be 
avoided  by  the  mere  showing  of  the  picture.  Boughton  and 
Taylor  have  treated  scenes  of  Puritan  Hfe  with  more  or  less 
historical  accuracy,  but  always  with  sympathy  and  insight. 
Constant  recourse  should  also  be  had  to  Hart's  ''American 
History  Told  by  Contemporaries,"  in  which  will  be  found  a 
wealth  of  graphic  detail. 

The  first  ten  lines  of  the  description  of  Standish  with  which 
the  story  opens  may  profitably  be  used  as  a  basis  for  describing 
modes  of  dress  and  of  warfare  during  this  period,  and  may  open 
inquiries  which  let  in  a  flood  of  light  on  the  home  hfe.  Why 
was  it  a  table  of  pine  at  which  Alden  was  writing?  Why 
was  the  field  of  wheat  planted  above  the  grave  of  Rose  Standish? 
How  many  people  were  there  in  Plymouth  at  this  time  if  there 
were  but  seven  houses  in  the  little  settlement?  Why  was  the 
Mayflower  returning  to  England?  These  questions  and  others 
of  the  same  sort  are  not  necessarily  to  be  asked  of  the  class. 
They  are  indicative  of  the  attitude  the  teacher  should  adopt  in 
reading  the  poem  while  preparing  for  her  introductory  lessons. 


STUDY  OF  THE  MASTERPIECE  71 

Her  own  skill  and  ingenuity  will  show  themselves  in  the  careful 
weaving  of  these  details  into  her  preliminary  account. 

It  is  always  well  to  bridge  the  gap  between  parts  of  a  lesson- 
whole  by  setting  a  problem  or  formulating  a  question.  At  the 
close  of  the  first  lesson  the  teacher  may  make  some  such  state- 
ment as  this,  "  Now  we  know  a  little  more  of  these  simple  pious 
folks,  how  they  suffered  and  Hved  and  how  at  length  it  seemed  as 
if  they  had  really  found  a  true  resting  place.  We  have  learned, 
too,  something  about  their  miUtary  captain,  Miles  Standish. 
To-morrow  (?)  we  shall  begin  to  read  a  poem  which  will  tell  how 
Standish  wanted  to  marry,  in  what  a  curious  way  he  set  about 
it,  and  whether  he  succeeded  or  not."  Of  course,  with  the 
poems  in  their  possession  and  with  the  creation  of  a  right  atmos- 
phere, any  class  will  rush  through  the  story  to  find  out  what  it  is 
all  about.  Nor  is  this  to  be  checked.  In  fact,  one  of  the  pur- 
poses of  the  graphic  and  vivid  introduction  is  to  create  such  an 
interest  that  the  class  of  its  own  initiative  will  read  the  poem. 
If  this  result  is  not  attained  the  presentation  cannot  be  said  to 
have  been  altogether  successful. 

From  this  point  the  reading  should  proceed  as  in  a  regular 
reading  lesson.  The  stopping  places  should  be  chosen  skilfully 
so  that  the  ground  covered  may  be  a  unit,  while  the  concluding 
situation  gives  a  propelHng  interest  that  will  carry  the  class  over 
into  the  next  reading.  As  each  boy  reads  there  should  be  brief 
questioning  on  the  content,  elucidation  of  involved  passages, 
explanation  of  terms,  etc. 

When  the  lesson  has  been  brought  to  a  close  and  has  been 
properly  summarized,  the  time  should  have  been  so  arranged 
that  a  few  minutes  remain  during  which  the  teacher  may  dictate 
words  or  passages  to  be  the  subject  of  the  pupils'  research.  A 
better  plan  may  be  to  have  these  all  prepared  on  mimeographed 
slips  and  to  distribute  them  at  the  close  of  the  lesson.  The 
introduction  to  the  new  lesson  should  include  not  only  a  brief 
statement  of  what  was  read  the  day  before,  but  also  a  rapid 


72  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

questioning  on  the  meaning  of  the  words  and  phrases.  Care 
should  be  taken  not  to  attempt  anything  exhaustive  in  this 
first  selection  for  word  or  text  study.  Whatever  is  necessary 
for  right  understanding  should  not  be  omitted  from  explanation, 
but  only  those  should  be  assigned  for  pupils'  research  which 
have  a  definite  cultural  or  aesthetic  value.  Thus  ^'choleric" 
would  be  explained,  if  necessary,  by  the  teacher  in  the  lesson, 
but  should  not  be  assigned  for  pupils'  study;  also  the  references 
to  Caesar,  although  these  may  be  simply  explained  in  connection 
with  the  study  of  the  grade  in  history.  ''The  well-worn  Psalm 
Book  of  Ainsworth,"  if  possible,  should  be  explained  by  the 
fac-simile  picture  of  a  page;  otherwise  a  simple  statement  by 
the  teacher  should  suflSce.  The  advance  work  is  done  in  the 
class  room,  the  only  work  done  at  home  being  on  those  parts 
already  presented  with  the  aid  of  the  teacher. 

One  lesson  may  be  given  to  a  general  review  of  the  story, 
not  so  much  for  the  purpose  of  the  narrative  as  for  questions  and 
answers  on  the  characters,  and  on  the  preferences  of  the  pupils 
for  different  passages. 

Up  to  this  point,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  there  has  been  con- 
tinued questioning,  it  may  be  said  that  there  has  been  more 
opportunity  for  impression  than  for  expression.  It  is  here  that 
a  second  motive  becomes  urgent,  if  the  presentation  has  been 
vivid  and  interest-compelling.  To  enter  upon  a  detailed  study 
of  the  poem  would  be  entirely  out  of  the  question.  The  pupils 
are  not  sufficiently  developed,  and  even  if  they  were,  the  results 
would  be  of  doubtful  value.  There  are,  however,  two  phases 
of  the  expressive  instinct  that  may  be  utilized  for  a  more  inten- 
sive study  of  selected  parts  of  the  poem.  On  the  one  hand,  the 
love  of  dramatization  will  lead  children  to  study  in  great  detail 
passages  of  narration  that  lend  themselves  readily  to  this  form 
of  expression.  The  teacher  may  select  dramatic  places  in  the 
story,  set  before  the  class  as  goal  the  presentation  of  the  entire 
poem  in  the  form  of  pictures  to  the  accompaniment  of  dialogue 


STUDY  OF  THE  MASTERPIECE  73 

in  the  language  of  the  poem,  and  proceed  to  a  careful  study  of  all 
passages  that  will  shed  light  on  the  characters  or  help  to  a  better 
dramatic  interpretation.  What  passages  to  choose  is  a  matter 
left  to  the  discretion  of  the  teacher.  There  should  not  be  many, 
nor  should  they  be  too  long.  Moreover,  in  the  dramatization, 
no  part  should  be  monopolized  by  any  one  pupil.  Three  or  four 
boys  may  impersonate  Standish,  so  that  the  interest  of  the  entire 
class  may  be  enlisted  in  the  work.  Naturally  the  acting  of  the 
"play"  before  the  school  is  a  fitting  climax  to  the  work. 

The  second  phase  of  the  expressive  instinct  is  found  in  the 
desire  of  children  to  give  pictorial  representation  of  scenes  that 
appeal  to  them.  The  teacher  should  select  two  or  three  striking 
scenes,  such,  for  example,  as  the  sailing  of  the  Mayflowefy 
and  setting  as  aim  before  the  class  the  representation  of  this 
scene  with  the  aid  of  crayons  or  water-color,  should  proceed  to  a 
detailed  study  of  the  descriptive  passages  that  will  aid  a  proper 
representation.  It  may  be  objected  that  not  all  the  children 
can  draw  well,  that  they  are  self-conscious  and  do  not  throw 
themselves  into  this  kind  of  work  with  any  enthusiasm.  The 
second  criticism  is  one  that  will  not  hold  if  this  sort  of  expressive 
work  has  been  carried  on  throughout  the  grades.  As  to  the 
first,  if  all  the  children  cannot  draw,  all  can  study  a  descriptive 
passage  so  as  to  get  suggestions  which  may  be  offered  to  the  few 
talented  ones  who  are  to  do  the  drawing  for  the  class.  The 
figuring  of  the  scene  that  will  come  after  careful  study  will  give 
sound  basis  for  intelligent  constructive  criticism  of  the  selected 
children's  pictorial  representations  when  offered  for  inspection. 

Summary  .  —  The  masterpiece  should  be  studied  (i)  because  it 
has  psychological  value  in  that  it  calls  for  prolonged  attention;  (2) 
because  it  has  cultural  value  in  that  it  introduces  the  pupils  to  the 
classics;  (3)  because  it  has  pedagogic  value  in  that  it  furnishes  a 
motive  for  training  in  formal  English.  These  values  being  second- 
ary or  derived,  the  study  should  come  late  in  the  course.  The  work 
should  not  be  hindered  with  exercises  in  articulation,  with  the  study 


74  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

of  technical  grammar,  or  of  rhetorical  forms.  These  are  to  be  sub- 
ordinated to  securing  the  aesthetic  and  ethical  effect  of  the  master- 
piece. There  should  be  two  readings  meeting  the  dominant  interests 
to  be  appealed  to.  These  interests  are  (i)  the  interest  in  the 
narrative  as  such;  (2)  the  desire  to  give  satisfactory  oral  rendering  of 
passages  that  appeal  to  the  pupils.  For  the  teacher  the  best  equip- 
ment is  not  so  much  knowledge  of  the  best  method  as  it  is  mas- 
tery of  the  subject  matter  and  an  appreciation  of  the  art  value  of  the 
masterpiece  presented.  Expression  for  the  pupils  may  take  the  form 
of  oral  reading,  spontaneous  or  memorized  dramatizations,  or  pic- 
torial representation. 


CHAPTER  VIII 
STUDY    OF   THE    MASTERPIECE    (Continued) 

In  order  to  show  how  different  the  study  is  when  the  emotional 
and  psychological  element  rather  than  the  narrative  element  is 
emphasized  in  the  telling  of  the  story,  it  may  be  well  to  show  in 
some  detail  the  treatment  of  Tennyson's  "Enoch  Arden." 

The  teacher  should  read  some  full  account  of  the  life  of  the 
author.  In  these  days  of  intimately  personal  biographies  it  is 
an  easy  matter  to  procure  several  volumes  full  of  details  and 
anecdotes.  The  teacher  must  remember,  however,  that  we  are 
interested  in  the  work  of  Tennyson,  not  because  he  is  the  polished 
master  of  modem  English  verse,  nor  because  he  is  the  representa- 
tive of  the  modern  spirit  as  it  found  expression  in  poetry,  nor  yet 
because  he  is  the  idyllist  of  English  legendary  lore,  but  because 
he  is  the  true  prophet,  in  the  ancient  sense,  of  the  deepest  and 
highest  thoughts  and  feelings.  We  are  interested  in  him  not 
from  the  literary  side  but  from  the  ethical,  from  the  emotional, 
from  the  aesthetic.  With  this  side  of  the  author  the  teacher 
must  become  familiar.  She  must  study  the  history  of  the  com- 
position of  the  work,  its  relation  to  the  life  of  the  author,  and 
its  relation  to  his  other  works. 

There  should  first  be  an  account  of  the  Ufe  of  the  author 
replete  with  personal  detail.  Anecdotes  should  be  freely  used 
to  illustrate  characteristic  traits  of  his  personality.  An  account 
should  then  be  given  of  the  circumstances  under  which  the 
particular  work  was  written.  Nearly  every  masterpiece  has  an 
interesting  personal  history. 

When  the  regular  study  is  taken  up,  either  the  teacher  should 
do  all  the  reading  or  she  should  call  upon  the  best  readers  of 


76  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

the  class,  going  over  a  few  lines  without  questioning  until  some 
logical  stopping  place  is  reached.  Then  the  class  should  retrace 
the  step  taken  and  the  analysis  of  the  thought  should  begin. 
Each  day's  lesson  should  be  so  planned  that  it  will  stop  at  a 
logical  place  in  the  story.  Each  reading  is  to  be  preceded  by 
telUng  the  story  as  far  as  it  has  developed  from  the  instalments 
already  read,  and  some  of  the  more  important  questions  may  be 
revived  to  give  pupils  opportunity  to  settle  moot  points.  There 
may  be  occasional  composition  exercises,  oral  as  well  as  written, 
narratives  alternating  with  descriptions.  The  attention  is  to  be 
concentrated  on  the  thoughtfulness  of  the  compositions.  All 
attempts  to  paraphrase  portions  of  the  work  studied  are  to 
be  discountenanced.  No  paraphrase  can  hope  to  equal  the 
original  in  beauty  of  diction,  and  we  must  keep  the  aesthetic 
appreciation  unimpaired. 

The  story  of  the  poem  may  be  told  in  two  periods  on  two 
succeeding  days.  The  first  reading  may  with  advantage  be 
closed  at  the  point  in  the  story  where  Enoch,  on  the  desert 
island,  sees  the  crew  from  the  ship  land  in  search  of  fresh  water. 
The  second  reading  begins  with  a  brief  summary  of  the  first. 
Conversation  may  then  be  begun  on  topics  like  those  here  sug- 
gested. 

What  is  the  great  act  of  Enoch's  Ufe  that  makes  it  noble? 
What  is  the  noblest  act  of  Philip's  Ufe?  What  name  may  we 
give  to  the  quality  of  Enoch's  character  that  is  shown  in  his 
actions  on  his  return  to  his  native  village?  Can  you  think  of 
any  other  stories  that  show  us  the  same  quality?  Can  any  one 
make  up  a  story  to  show  that  this  noble  quahty  may  be  possessed 
by  any  one  of  us?  Who  will  give  some  example?  What 
name  may  we  give  to  the  noble  quahty  shown  by  Philip?  Do 
you  think  he  was  doing  Enoch  a  wrong?  Why?  (Tell  the  class 
that  the  noblest  act  of  friendship  is  to  extend  help  to  those  who 
are  dear  to  our  friends). 

Which  of  the  two  men  do  you  like  better?    Why? 


STUDY  OF  THE  MASTERPIECE  77 

It  is  not  advisable  to  encourage  too  minute  a  comparison  of 
the  two  characters. 

Do  you  think  Annie  was  not  true  to  Enoch  when  she  married 
Philip?  Why?  (Emphasize  to  the  children  the  fact  that 
Annie  was  thinking  of  her  children,  and  dwell  on  the  beautiful 
aspects  of  the  mother-love.  Speak  of  the  sacrifices  that  parents 
are  continually  making  for  their  children,  and  show  the  children 
that  love  and  obedience  are  but  the  natural  return  due  from 
them  to  their  parents).  How  do  you  think  the  story  would  have 
ended  if  Enoch  had  told  who  he  was  and  made  himself  known  to 
all  the  people? 

Detailed  Study 

Read  the  first  stanza  to  the  class.  Notice  how  brief  the  descrip- 
tion is  and  yet  how  complete.  We  have  a  full  picture  before  our  eyes. 
When  we  try  to  say  this  in  the  ordinary  way  we  lose  force.  Brev- 
ity is  always  more  emphatic  and  forcible  than  long  speeches.  (Refer 
the  children  to  English  history,  and  tell  them  that  the  words  ^^  Danish 
harrows"  should  almost  place  the  exact  spot;  ask  them  to  look  the 
matter  up).  What  does  the  word  cuplike  mean?  How  would  you 
express  the  same  idea  by  using  geographical  terms?  Which  way  of 
saying  it  tells  better  what  the  place  looked  like? 

Read  the  second  stanza.  What  does  three  house  mean?  What 
differences  would  you  expect  in  the  characters  of  the  two  boys  and 
to  what  do  you  think  these  differences  are  due?  Notice  the  exact 
uses  of  adjectives  by  the  poet.  For  instance,  why  is  the  cordage 
hard?  Why  are  the  fishing  nets  swarthy?  (Because  they  are  tarred). 
Why  is  the  fluke  of  the  anchor  rusty  ?   Why  are  the  boats  updrawn  ? 

Who  knows  of  fines  from  a  certain  American  poet  in  which  use  is 
made  of  the  same  idea  we  have  in  the  last  four  lines  of  this  stanza? 
(LongfeUow's  "Psahn  of  Life"). 

Read  the  third  and  fourth  stanzas.  (Do  not  discuss  the  third 
stanza  at  all;  let  it  act  on  the  children  spontaneously.  They  will 
imderstand  it  perfectly). 

Why  does  Tennyson  call  childhood  rosy  ?  What  is  the  meaning  of 
the  line,  Ere  he  had  touched  his  one  and  twentieth  May?    What 


78  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

comparison  have  we  met  that  was  like  the  use  of  the  word 
nestlike?  Why  does  Temiyson  use  the  word  clambered  in  speaking 
of  the  narrow  street? 

Read  stanzas  5  and  6.  Notice  the  kind  of  picture  you  get  when 
the  poet  uses  the  words,  golden  eventide.  (Do  not  have  the  children 
analyze  the  image;  let  them  get  the  feeling  of  the  phrase).  How  was 
the  hazel  grove  situated  with  respect  to  the  village?  Refer  to  the 
first  stanza.  Notice  the  expression,  feather  toward  the  hollow.  Why 
did  PhiHp  read  his  doom  ?  (Explain  briefly  the  lines  third  and  sec- 
ond from  the  last  in  the  sixth  stanza). 

Read  stanzas  7,  8,  and  9.  What  are  the  duties  of  a  boatswain? 
Notice  the  expression,  fiery  highway.  Who  can  tell  some'  stories 
of  the  love  that  men  have  had  for  their  horses?  Why  does  Enoch 
love  his  boat  so  much? 

Read  stanzas  10  and  11.  Wliy  did  not  Annie  wish  to  let  Enoch 
go  to  China?    What  was  Enoch's  old  sea  friend? 

Read  stanzas  12,  13,  14,  15,  16,  17.  Notice  the  beautiful  compar- 
ison at  the  close  of  stanza  13.  Notice  how  simple  it  is  —  just  what 
one  would  expect  in  such  a  simple  tale.  Who  can  find  another  of 
these  simple  comparisons  in  stanza  16? 

Read  stanzas  18  and  19.    What  is  a  glass?    Who  use  this  term? 

Read  stanza  20.     (No  comments;   the  story  is  too  pathetic). 

Read  stanzas  21  to  26,  inclusive.  Why  had  Philip  never  called 
to  see  Annie?  What  incident  in  his  boyhood  shows  this  same  qual- 
ity of  his  character?  See  stanza  3.  Notice  how,  although  Phihp 
comes  to  do  a  great  kindness  to  Annie,  he  puts  the  matter  so  that 
you  might  think  Annie  was  doing  him  a  favor.  It  is  how  we  do  a 
kindness  that  counts  for  more  than  what  we  give.  What  is  a  garth  ? 
stanza  25.  In  stanza  26  what  is  the  meaning  of  the  words  made  himr- 
self  theirs?  Explain  the  use  of  the  word  lazy  to  describe  the  gossip. 
(Explain  to  the  class  the  last  three  lines  of  the  stanza). 

Read  stanza  27.  W^y  did  the  children  come  to  love  Philip  more 
than  they  did  the  memory  of  Enoch?  Explain  the  use  of  the  word 
fathom.  How  is  the  word  generally  used?  Explain  the  beautiful 
expression  that  you  find  in  this  stanza. 

Read  stanzas  28  to  33,  inclusive.  Notice  how  well  the  poet  has 
used  hlossom-dust  in  his  comparison  of  the  miller  to  the  bee.    Why 


STUDY  OF  THE  MASTERPIECE  79 

is  this  word  just  right?  Do  you  notice  anything  else  that  is  very 
fitting  in  this  comparison?  Explain  once  more  what  a  down  is.  (Call 
the  attention  of  the  class  to  Tennyson's  use  in  this  stanza  of  the 
exact  words  that  we  met  in  stanza  5;  his  purpose  is  to  ask  us  to 
remember  what  took  place  once  before  in  this  spot).  Why  are  the 
loAztls  dtscrihtd  diS  whitening?  Why  are  the  boughs  re/wc/a«/.?  (Ex- 
plain to  the  class  Honest  forehead,  stanza  30.  Call  their  attention 
to  the  eUipsis  in  the  conversation  and  show  them  by  illustrations 
how  natural  a  touch  this  is.  Ask  for  further  illustrations.)  Notice 
that  this  is  only  the  second  time  that  we  hear  Philip  speak  for  any 
length  of  time,  and  that  in  each  case  it  was  to  plead  for  a  chance  to 
do  some  good  to  others.  Explain  the  origin  of  the  expression  lide 
my  year.  In  what  other  way  might  the  poet  have  spoken  of  the 
dead  flame  of  the  fallen  day  ? 

Read  stanzas  34  and  35.  What  idea  do  you  get  from  the  poet's 
wonderful  use  of  the  word  flashed  in  the  expression,  autumn  into  au- 
tumn flashed  again  ?    Pass  the  next  stanza  without  comment. 

Read  stanzas  36  and  37.  (Explain  the  line,  Compassed  round  by 
the  blind  wall  of  night,  laying  particular  emphasis  on  the  use  of  the 
word  blind.  Explain  to  the  class  the  superstitious  beUef  in  dreams.) 
Notice  once  more  the  use  of  repeated  expressions  in  stanza  37.  Can 
you  see  how  the  poet  leads  us  at  this  point  to  get  some  idea  in  advance 
that  Enoch  still  lives? 

Read  stanzas  38  to  42,  inclusive.  Why'does  Tennyson  call  Enoch's 
ship  Good  Fortune  ?  Explain  the  Cape,  Biscay,  summer  world,  breath 
of  heaven,  golden  isles,  oriental  haven.  Notice  in  stanza  40  how  poet- 
ically the  Hues  teU  us  that  the  ship  sailed  fast.  Who  can  read  the 
lines?  Why  were  the  ship-wrecked  mariners  ill-content  in  spite  of 
the  beauty  of  the  isle? 

Read  stanza  43.  Tennyson  never  was  in  the  tropics,  yet  travelers 
say  this  is  a  wonderfully  accurate  description.  The  power  of  imag- 
ination is  the  truest  sign  of  the  real  poet.  Dwell  on  the  details  of 
this  description  and  try  to  show  pictures  to  the  class  that  will  make 
the  imagery  more  vivid  to  the  children. 

Read  stanzas  44  and  45.  (Explain  to  the  class  what  illusions  are.) 
The  ringing  of  bells  that  is  described  here  is  taken  by  the  poet  from 
a  story  told  to  him  by  a  man  who  was  shipwrecked  in  this  way.    But 


8o  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

notice  how  the  poet  has  used  this  fact  to  suggest  an  event  that  has 
taken  place  in  Enoch's  native  village.  What  is  that  event?  It 
was  faith  alone  that  kept  Enoch  alive.  Here  give  some  quotations, 
Bibhcal  and  others,  relating  to  the  power  of  faith. 

Read  stanza  46.  Why  does  the  poet  use  the  words  early-silvering 
head  ?  What  had  caused  Enoch  to  lose  the  power  of  speech?  Why 
had  he  never  noticed  the  loss  of  this  power  before? 

Read  stanzas  47,  48,  and  49.  Notice  that  the  poet  does  not  tell 
us  how  Enoch  felt;  how  does  he  give  us  a  picture  of  Enoch's  mind? 
(By  making  the  scene  a  reflex  of  his  thoughts.)  For  a  good  ex- 
ample, read  to  the  class  Longfellow's  "Rainy  Day";  the  paralleUsm 
here  is  perfect. 

Read  stanzas  50  to  53,  inclusive.  Notice,  in  stanza  51,  that  the 
comparison  used  is  one  suitable  for  a  sea-tale;  and  notice,  also, 
how  particularly  fitting  it  is,  in  that  it  suggests  that  when  Enoch 
does  go  to  the  house,  like  the  bird,  he  goes  to  his  ruin.  Read  once 
more  to  the  class  the  surpassingly  beautiful,  yet  simple,  description 
of  the  interior  of  Philip's  home;  ask  the  class  to  think  of  Enoch's 
thoughts  as  he  looks  in,  but  make  no  other  comment. 

Read  stanzas  54  to  58,  inclusive.  Note  the  force  of  the  term 
dead  man.    What  does  it  mean?  Make  no  other  comment. 

Read  stanza  59.  Bring  home  to  the  children  the  moral  truth  that 
the  thought  that  we  are  doing  right  is  in  itself  a  great  reward.  So 
it  was  with  Enoch  —  he  was  not  all  unhappy.  Note  once  more  the 
beauty  of  the  comparison  at  the  close  of  this  stanza,  and  notice  how 
fitting  it  is  in  a  sea-tale.  This  use  of  fitting  figures  gives  an  air  of  the 
sea  to  the  whole  story;  it  is  what  we  call  the  atmosphere  of  the  poem. 
Who  can  explain  why  we  call  it  by  this  name?  Now,  who  can  turn 
back  in  the  poem  to  other  comparisons  that  help  to  create  this  atmos- 
phere? 

Read  stanzas  60  and  61.  No  comment.  Pause  a  little  to  give 
the  stanzas  opportunity  to  leave  their  undoubted  impress. 

Read  the  rest  of  the  poem.  For  the  explanation  of  the  calling  of 
the  sea,  see  "A  Memoir  of  Lord  Tennyson,"  by  his  son.  Show  the 
class  how  the  last  three  lines  of  the  poem  tell,  indirectly,  the  whole 
story  of  what  took  place  after  Annie  and  Philip  heard  who  the  dead 
man  was. 


STUDY  OF  THE  MASTERPIECE  8i 

The  teacher  may  close  with  a  return  to  some  of  the  general  ques- 
tions on  the  characters  asked  at  the  beginning  of  the  study. 

Summary.  — Where  the  emotional  appeal  of  the  masterpiece  is 
strong,  the  pupil  should  be  called  upon  to  judge  of  acts  and  motives 
with  a  view  to  establishing  general  standards  of  conduct.  The 
study  of  diction  should  lead  to  a  feeling  for  the  right  use  of  words. 
The  appeal  should  be  to  the  music  of  the  word,  to  its  suggestive 
power,  and  to  its  inevitableness. 


CHAPTER  IX 
STUDY    OF    THE    MASTERPIECE    (Concluded) 

As  an  illustration  of  the  method  of  studying  a  prose  master- 
piece, we  may  take  Benjamin  Franklin's  "Autobiography." 
The  appreciation  of  a  masterpiece  consists  not  only  in  the  com- 
prehension of  a  story,  not  even  in  a  feeUng  of  its  beauty,  but 
in  the  reconstruction  and  reorganization  of  the  personal  experi- 
ences of  the  reader  by  the  aid  of  the  richer  and  fuller  content 
expressive  of  the  personal  experiences  of  a  creative  genius.  The 
problem  of  the  teacher  is  to  analyze  the  work  with  a  view  to 
discovering  what  are  the  experiences  or  aspirations  of  the  child 
which  should  be  recalled  to  him  as  the  first  step  toward  a  com- 
plete sympathy  with  the  content  of  the  work  he  is  to  study. 

From  this  point  of  view,  an  autobiography  is  of  value  in  the 
elementary  school  not  as  a  literary  work  but  as  the  record  of 
the  life  of  a  man  ;  and  its  value  will  be  proportioned  to  the  value 
that  man's  life  has  when  translated  into  the  experiences  of  the 
pupil  of  the  elementary  schools.  The  study  of  Franklin's 
"Autobiography  "  is  only  an  intermediate  step  to  an  appreciation 
of  Franklin,  the  man.  As  a  literary  work  the  book  does  not 
respond  to  a  need  in  the  child's  expressive  interests;  he  does  not 
care  to  study  its  style  for,  normally,  he  is  not  yearning  to  record 
his  life-story  for  posterity.  But  what  he  is  interested  in,  is  the 
account  of  the  development  of  a  man  of  power  in  his  time,  from 
the  humblest  of  beginnings.  Potentially,  he  is  a  Franklin; 
and  in  the  career  of  the  apprenticed  printer  he  sees  his  own 
possible  life  unfolded  before  his  kindled  imagination. 

The  aim  of  the  teacher,  therefore,  should  be  to  present  not 
the  autobiography  of  Franklin,  but  Franklin  himself.    A  pre- 


STUDY  OF  THE  MASTERPIECE  83 

liminary  reading  is  useless,  since  in  a  seventh  year  class  the 
children  are  already  possessed  of  a  general  knowledge  of  Franklin 
and  his  influence  on  the  early  history  of  the  nation.  In  so  far  as 
a  detailed  study  of  selected  portions  is  necessary  to  make  possible 
an  emotional  appreciation  of  dynamic  periods  in  the  man's 
career,  there  should  be  due  emphasis  on  the  form.  But  in  every 
case  the  selection  of  the  part  read  should  be  made  so  that  it  will 
illustrate  a  vital  point  in  the  development  of  the  man;  it  should 
verify  through  the  actual  experience  of  Franklin  an  actual  or  a 
possible  situation  in  the  life  of  a  boy. 

To  read  the  entire  book  in  the  time  allotted  would  be  mani- 
festly impossible;  parts  chosen  for  actual  reading  should  be 
complete  in  themselves  and  should  present  dramatic  episodes  in 
Franklin's  life.  The  necessary  connections  between  these  parts 
may  be  made  by  oral  reports  on  portions  of  the  autobiography 
read  at  home  by  the  pupils  or  by  questions  prepared  by  the 
teacher  and  bearing  on  the  development  of  historical  events 
during  the  period  in  question.  To  summarize,  then,  only  one 
reading  should  be  given.  This  should  be  of  selected  parts  — 
units  in  themselves  and  capable  of  treatment  in  a  single  period. 

Naturally  the  dominant  question  is,  "What  part  shall  be 
selected? "  In  other  words,  ''What  aspects  of  Franklin  may  we 
rightly  assume  appeal  to  the  boy  in  the  seventh  year,  either 
because  they  meet  his  personal  ideals,  or  because  they  serve  to 
reconstruct  the  notions  he  has  received  from  his  earlier  study  of 
American  history?  " 

These  criteria  as  we  understand  them  are  three  in  number. 
They  are  those  which  are  indicative  of  an  appreciation  of 
Franklin  under  three  aspects,  viz.:  Franklin,  the  self-made 
man;  Franklin,  the  marvel  of  versatility;  Franklin,  the  man  of 
affairs.  As  typical  of  the  first,  we  should  select  portions  of  the 
autobiography  which  will  show  us  the  steady  application  of  the 
youth,  his  industry,  his  systematic  mode  of  living,  his  frugality. 
For  the  second,  we  should  choose  portions  which  present  the 


84  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

varied  aspects  of  his  career,  the  scientist,  the  practical  inventor, 
the  author,  the  man  of  business,  etc.  While  for  the  third  we 
should  take  parts  from  the  autobiography  which  show  the 
important  part  he  played  in  politics  at  home  and  in  diplomatic 
relations  abroad.  The  first  two  will,  if  properly  presented, 
satisfy  personal  ideals;  the  third  will  serve  to  vitalize  historical 
notions  already  acquired  by  the  pupil.  A  partial  selection  is 
here  given.  The  pagination  is  that  of  the  edition  of  the  auto- 
biography published  by  D.  C.  Heath  &  Co.,  and  edited  by  H. 
A.  Davidson. 

1.  His  youth,  p.  7  to  middle  page  12. 

2.  How  he  educated  himself;  p.  14  to  middle  page  18;  then 
page  19,  top  p.  21;  p.  22,  middle  page  24. 

3.  Trip  to  Philadelphia;  entrance  into  the  city,  p.  29  to  top 
page  36. 

4.  Life  in  Philadelphia,  p.  51,  top  page  54. 

5.  Life  in  London,  p.  56,  to  page  72. 

6.  Life  in  Philadelphia,  p.  103,  bottom  p.  106. 

7.  His  moral  education,  p.  108,  and  135  to  155.  Three  or  four 
lessons,  omitting  the  discussion  of  religious  matters. 

8.  The  Almanac,  pp.  155  to  158.  With  copious  quotations  from 
the  Almanac  itself. 

9.  His  public  service,  p.  167  and  178  to  193  with  omissions. 

10.  As  an  inventor,  etc.,  pp.  250-265. 

11.  As  civil  benefactor,  pp.  189-193  and  203  to  208. 

12.  His  plan  of  union,  pp.  209-215,  inclusive. 

13.  As  English  agent,  and  as  colonel,  pp.  266-287.    Much  may  be 
rapidly  passed  over;    four  lessons  in  all;  perhaps  three  will  sufl&ce. 

The  lessons  may  be  conducted  like  ordinary  reading  lessons 
except  that  the  introduction  should  consist  of  a  summary  of  the 
connecting  parts  or  of  a  review  of  the  historical  events.  The 
questioning  throughout  the  lesson  should  bear  upon  the  develop- 
ment of  that  aspect  of  the  man,  the  consideration  of  which 
prompted  the  specific  choice  of  the  part  of  the  autobiography 


STUDY  OF  THE  MASTERPIECE  85 

under  study.    Illustrative  material  of  many  sorts,  it  is  needless 
to  add,  should  be  employed. 

As  a  further  illustration  of  how  the  method  to  be  followed  in 
the  study  of  the  masterpiece  will  always  be  changed  by  the 
nature  of  the  work  studied,  we  give  a  brief  analysis  of  the 
method  to  be  followed  in  taking  up  the  study  of  Irving's  "Rip 
Van  Winkle." 

While  the  general  mode  of  presentation  is  determined  by  the 
motives  suppUed  by  the  pupil's  dominant  interests,  the  approach 
to  the  lesson  must  be  regulated  by  the  content  of  the  masterpiece 
itself.  In  Longfellow's  "Courtship  of  Miles  Standish"  the 
story  is  one  that  involves  characters  and  a  phase  of  our  history 
already  more  or  less  familiar  to  an  average  seventh  year  class. 
Hence  the  first  lessons  dealt  with  the  story  of  the  Pilgrims  and 
the  diflSculties  and  dangers  attendant  upon  their  early  settle- 
ment in  Massachusetts.  Here,  however,  we  are  endeavoring 
to  present  a  story  which  was  an  original  creation  with  Irving — 
at  least  in  the  form  we  have  before  us  in  "Rip  Van  Winkle." 
Our  interest  here  must  be  in  the  author  and  then  by  transference 
in  the  story.  A  literary  study  of  Irving  is  entirely  out  of  place 
in  an  elementary  school.  But  he  can  be  presented  in  such  a 
way  as  to  connect  with  certain  historical  facts  already  known 
by  the  class.  Such  a  presentation  is  here  attempted.  Much 
of  the  information  to  be  given  may  form  the  subject  matter  of 
the  teacher's  talk;  but  it  is  not  to  be  inferred  that  all  should 
be  demanded  from  the  class  in  return. 

In  the  Edinburgh  Review  for  January,  1820,  Sydney  Smith 
wrote,  "  In  the  four  quarters  of  the  globe,  who  reads  an  American 
book?  or  goes  to  an  American  play?  or  looks  at  an  American 
picture  or  statue?  "  In  the  August  niraiber  of  the  same  periodi- 
cal for  that  year,  we  read,  "The  courteous  and  ingenious 
stranger  (Irving)  whom  we  are  ambitious  of  introducing  to  the 
notice  of  our  readers."  No  student  of  Uterary  movements 
dares  to  assert  that  changes  in  attitude  are  effected  within  the 


86  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

brief  compass  of  time  that  is  represented  by  the  few  months 
separating  these  excerpts.  Still,  it  cannot  be  doubted  that 
during  the  first  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  centur>^  a  great  change 
took  place  in  the  critical  judgment  of  England  regarding  literary 
affairs  in  America.  Irving  has  been  called  the  "Father  of 
American  Literature"  —  the  "first  American  man  of  letters  to 
gain  the  ear  of  Europe. ' '  Our  political  independence  was  secured 
in  1783;  our  commercial  identity  was  assured  in  181 5,  at  the 
close  of  the  Second  War  for  American  Independence.  But  our 
intellectual  declaration  of  independence  was  not  issued  until 
1837  when  Emerson  in  his  ringing  oration  on  "The  American 
Scholar"  sounded  the  note  of  national  individuaUsm.  As  a 
necessary  forerunner  to  this,  however,  was  the  recognition  on  the 
part  of  English  critics  of  the  existence  of  a  native  Uterature, 
distinctive  and  worthy  of  its  source;  and  it  was  Washington 
Irving  who  was  the  compelling  force  in  this  struggle  for  separate 
existence. 

It  is  therefore  as  a  pioneer  that  the  author  whose  work  we 
are  to  present,  is  of  most  interest  to  us.  Partly  because  of  the 
barrier  raised  between  the  countries  by  the  political  conflict, 
partly  because  the  smug  complacency  of  the  early  nineteenth 
century  Britisher  brooked  like  the  Turk  no  rival  near  the  throne, 
all  literary  work  in  America  was  regarded  with  disdain  by  the 
contributors  to  English  periodicals.  Repel  a  supplicant  and  he 
fawns  all  the  more.  In  proportion  as  our  writers  were  contemp- 
tuously thrust  aside  so  did  they  more  assiduously  give  themselves 
to  complete  adulation  of  their  scomers.  Although  Irving 
succeeded  in  gaining  a  grudging  recognition  in  England,  he  did 
not  live  to  see  the  total  rehabihtation  of  American  literary 
independence. 

It  will  be  of  interest  during  the  introductory  presentation  to 
speak  of  Irving's  work  in  various  directions.  There  is  Uttle 
connected  with  his  youth  that  is  of  value  to  us  in  tracing  the 
growth  of  his  literary  career.    More  important  than  his  reading 


STUDY  OF  THE  MASTERPIECE  87 

or  his  book-education  were  the  trips  he  took  through  the  Hudson 
valley  and  up  into  Canada.  Bryant  says  Irving  was  the  first 
to  describe  the  extraordinary  beauty  of  the  Hudson,  and  such 
reports  as  we  have,  serve  to  indicate  the  strong  impression  made 
on  him  by  the  virgin  forests  and  the  blue  mountains  of  his 
native  State  —  "a  reahn  of  wonder  and  enchantment." 

"Of  all  the  scenery  of  the  Hudson,  the  Kaatskill  Mountains  had 
the  most  witching  effect  on  my  boyish  imagination.  Never  shall  I 
forget  the  effect  upon  me  of  the  first  view  of  them  predominating 
over  a  wide  extent  of  country,  part  wild,  woody,  and  rugged;  part 
softened  away  into  aU  the  graces  of  cultivation.  As  we  floated 
slowly  along,  I  lay  on  the  deck  and  watched  them  through  a  long 
siunmer's  day,  undergoing  a  thousand  mutations  under  the  magical 
effects  of  atmosphere;  sometimes  seeming  to  approach,  at  other 
times  to  recede;  now  almost  melting  into  hazy  distances,  now 
burnished  by  the  setting  sun,  until  in  the  evening,  they  printed 
themselves  against  the  glowing  sky  in  the  deep  purple  of  an  Italian 
landscape.  ... 

"To  me,  the  Hudson  is  full  of  storied  associations,  connected  as 
it  is  with  some  of  the  happiest  portions  of  my  life.  Each  striking 
feature  brings  to  mind  some  early  adventure,  or  enjoyment;  some 
favorite  companion  who  shared  it  with  me.  .  .  ." 

In  order  to  bring  a  class  into  somewhat  the  same  attitude 
toward  the  country  which  forms  the  background  of  the  story, 
the  room  should  be  supplied  with  pictures  of  the  Catskill 
Mountains,  cut  from  magazines,  railroad  folders,  and  the  like. 
Pupils  may  be  encouraged  to  continue  the  collection  in  their 
scrap  books,  accompanying  the  pictures  wherever  possible  by  a 
sentence  selected  from  the  descriptive  portions  of  the  narrative 
and  written  underneath  the  picttire.  In  schools  blessed  with  a 
stereopticon  lantern  a  lecture  may  be  given  by  the  teacher. 

In  1807,  Dr.  Samuel  Latham  Mitchell  published  "Picture  of 
New  York"  —  "said  to  be  ridiculous,  even  among  works  of 
its  time,  for  ponderous  pretentiousness."    Irving  and  his  two 


88  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

brothers  conceived  a  mere  jeu  d'espritf  the  notion  of  writing 
a  burlesque  of  this  work,  and  with  this  view,  as  we  are  informed 
by  his  nephew,  they  took  a  vast  quantity  of  notes,  in  emulation 
of  the  erudition  displayed  in  the  commencement  of  that  work, 
which  began  with  an  account  of  the  Aborigines.  They  started, 
therefore,  with  the  creation  of  the  world.  As  he  went  on,  the 
style  and  purpose  changed  and  there  was  produced  a  comic 
history  of  old  New  York  —  "The  History  of  New  York,  by 
Diedrich  Knickerbocker." 

A  lesson  may  profitably  be  given  to  this  work.  The  class 
will  be  delighted  with  the  account  of  the  preparatory  adver- 
tisements intended  to  arouse  curiosity.  How  successful  these 
were  may  be  judged  from  the  fact  that  one  of  the  city  authori- 
ties came  to  consult  Irving's  brother  on  the  propriety  of  offer- 
ing a  reward  for  the  missing  Diedrich.  There  are  many 
excellent  selections  from  "the  richest  piece  of  native  humor 
that  the  country  has  produced"  which  will  be  hugely  enjoyed 
by  children  already  familiar  with  the  historical  facts  connected 
with  the  leading  personages  of  the  story. 

This  work  made  Irving  famous.  Charles  Dudley  Warner 
says: 

"Outside  the  Dutch  families,  the  History  was  hailed  with  univer- 
sal delight,  as  the  most  witty  and  original  production  from  any 
American  pen.  The  first  foreign  author  to  recognize  its  peculiar 
merit  was  Walter  Scott,  who  read  it  aloud  to  his  family,  till  their 
sides  were  sore  with  laughing,  he  asserts,  and  who  saw  in  it  a  close 
resemblance  to  Dean  Swift,  and  indications  of  powers  that  reminded 
him  of  Sterne." 

For  the  purposes  of  the  seventh  year  work  it  will  scarcely 
be  advisable  to  enter  into  an  account  of  Irving's  biographical 
and  historical  writings.  Two,  and  only  two,  elements  enter 
into  a  right  appreciation  of  Rip  Van  Winkle:  sympathy  with 
the  ardent  love  Irving  felt  for  the  beauties  of  the  Catskill 


STUDY  OF  THE  MASTERPIECE  89 

Mountain  country  and  acquaintance  with  the  grotesque  and 
whimsical  spirit  in  which  he  dealt  with  the  traditions  of  Dutch 
New  York.  The  teacher  should  aim  to  make  both  these 
factors  living  and  real  things  in  the  minds  of  the  children. 
How  the  first  of  these  entered  completely  into  the  life  of  the 
man  may  be  learned  from  his  choice  of  Simnyside  as  his  home 
in  later  life. 

It  is  with  the  ''Sketch  Book,"  of  course,  that  we  are  most 
directly  concerned.  Only  a  consideration  of  the  powers  of 
the  particular  class  to  take  up  the  work  can  determine  how 
much  of  the  information  here  given  should  be  presented  to 
the  children.  One  caution,  however,  should  be  noted.  The 
interest  of  the  pupils  is  in  the  story  as  such  and  not  in  the  style 
or.  the  technique  of  construction.  The  analysis  of  the  sketch 
from  the  literary  point  of  view  is  given  solely  for  the  purpose, 
already  suggested,  of  furnishing  the  teacher  with  a  broader 
background  of  cultural  information. 

The  writing  of  the  book  was  undertaken  by  Irving  with  a 
definite  purpose.  Relations  between  the  two  branches  of 
English-speaking  people  were  strained.  The  haughty  con- 
descension of  the  Britisher  was  resented  by  the  American, 
just  beginning  to  find  himself  in  a  national  sense,  and  strong 
in  the  consciousness  of  youthful  power.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  self-sufiiciency  and  assertive  independence  of  the  Ameri- 
can traveler  was  equally  offensive  to  the  staid  Briton  who 
shut  in  his  horizon  with  provinciaHsm  and  deep-rooted  faith 
in  vested  tradition.  More  than  any  other  man  of  his  time, 
Irving  brought  about  a  better  understanding  and  laid  the 
foundation  for  a  more  tolerant  respect.  His  papers  on  English 
life,  tinged  with  quaint  humor,  sympathetic  withal,  and  with- 
out sacrificing  any  of  the  cherished  notions  of  American  in- 
dependence, gracefully  paid  tribute  to  the  Old  Home  of 
American  traditions.  His  portrayal  of  American  scenes  and  his 
characterizations  of  native  types  were  delicious  in  their  refine- 


90  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

ment  and  showed  an  impartial  judgment  that  brought  about  a 
truer  appreciation. 

The  success  of  the  book  was  immediate.  Intended  originally 
for  publication  only  in  America,  it  met  with  so  favorable  a 
reception  here  that  pirated  editions  began  to  appear  in  England, 
and,  in  self-defense,  Irving  was  compelled  to  arrange  for  an 
authorized  publication.  It  was  once  a  cause  for  national  pride 
to  refer  to  the  fact  that  Murray,  a  leading  English  publisher 
and  bookseller,  who  had  once  declined  to  undertake  the  publi- 
cation of  the  *' Sketch  Book"  later  asked  for  the  privilege,  and 
became  in  a  way  Irving's  literary  sponsor  in  England. 

As  a  stylist,  Irving  belongs  to  the  eighteenth  rather  than 
to  the  nineteenth  century.  The  very  form  of  his  work,  the 
essay  or  sketch,  was  the  characteristic  product  of  the  earher 
period.  Many  of  his  descriptive  papers  might  well  have  been 
taken  from  any  of  the  numerous  lighter  periodicals  of  the 
Augustan  Age.  He  is  a  nineteenth  century  Addison,  or  better, 
an  American  Goldsmith.  We  find  the  same  polish  and  finish, 
the  elusive  charm,  the  same  quips  of  fancy,  the  same  super- 
ficial and  yet  accurate  characterizations  that  we  meet  in 
the  earher  writer.  And  whether  it  be  due  to  the  individual- 
ity of  the  author,  or  to  the  xmconscious  influence  of  the  EngHsh 
models  he  constantly  set  before  himself,  we  have  a  similar 
style.  The  curious  Latinisms  that  abound  in  the  work  of  those 
who  belonged  to  our  classic  prose  age  are  found  here  and  make 
detailed  study  in  an  elementary  school  almost  an  impossible, 
certainly  a  difficult  task.  The  sentence  structure  is  totally 
unlike  that  of  our  modem  writers.  Fashions  change  in  style 
of  literary  expression  as  in  all  else.  The  nicely  turned,  pungent 
phrases  of  Addison  are  no  longer  typical  of  twentieth  century 
writing.  While  models  of  precise  utterance  and  pointed  ac- 
curacy may  be  found  in  his  work,  a  good  modern  style  typical 
of  our  age  could  not  be  gained  by  devoting  one's  days  and 
nights  to  the  study  of  Addison.     It  is  important  that  the 


STUDY  OF  THE  MASTERPIECE  91 

teacher  keep  this  well  in  mind  lest  she  turn  aside  too  frequently 
for  the  consideration  of  mere  technique.  Present  day  condi- 
tions demand  terseness  and  directness  of  diction,  and  simplicity 
and  brevity  in  sentence  structure. 

When  all  is  said,  however,  the  story's  the  thing.  In  ''Rip 
Van  Winkle"  we  have  a  veritable  classic,  for  it  possesses  the 
one  indispensable  quality,  inevitableness.  Once  let  the  work  of 
genius  find  expression  and  it  gives  us  the  feeling  that  it  could 
not  have  been  expressed  in  any  other  way.  This  quality  "Rip 
Van  Winkle "  possesses  in  a  high  degree.  The  story  itself  was 
not  original  with  Irving  nor  is  it  even  native  to  America.  But 
whether  he  has  adapted  it  from  a  German  or  a  Spanish  source, 
he  has  so  identified  it  with  the  country  in  which  he  has  placed 
it  that  it  is  ''racy  of  the  soil."  Its  charm  grows  with  repeated 
readings,  and  to  the  placidity  of  the  style  he  adds  a  delicate 
humor  and  a  color  of  romance  which  give  it  an  irresistible 
appeal. 

Read  what  Charles  Dudley  Warner  says  of  it  in  his  charm- 
ingly intimate  essay  on  Irving: 

"And  how  simple  Rip  Van  Winkle  is.  A  less  artist  would  have 
dressed  it  up  and  overloaded  it  with  a  thousand  fanciful  elaborations, 
such  as  the  imagination  of  each  of  us  likes  to  supply.  How  true  it 
seems,  and  how  old.  In  fact  it  is  old.  And  yet  the  original  setting, 
the  exquisite  adaptation  of  the  legend  to  its  locality  make  it  a  new 
creation.  It  has  the  same  dignity  of  antiquity  as  the  Legend  of  the 
Seven  Sleepers  of  Ephesus,  or  of  the  Moslem  youths,  attended  by 
the  wise  dog,  Ketmehr,  who  went  to  sleep  in  the  cave  above  Damas- 
cus." ...  (It  has)  "as much  power  of  living  on  in  the  popular  mind 
as  anything  done,  said,  or  written  in  this  century.  And  the  amazing 
thing  about  (it)  is  that  (it  is)  'local,'  and  under  a  strong  suspicion 
of  being  'provincial,'  having  sprung  out  of  a  virgin  soil  never  sown 
with  tradition  nor  watered  by  age  and  custom." 

It  is  the  story  which  the  teacher  should  aim  to  present  as  a 
vivid  reality  to  the  class.    And  although,  alas!  —  the  legend 


92  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

has  come  to  be  so  interwoven  into  our  thinking  that  it  is  famil- 
iar to  almost  every  child,  the  interest  of  the  children  should 
not  be  choked  by  any  attempt  to  give  a  necessarily  garbled 
epitome  of  its  leading  episodes.  The  story  may  easily  be 
divided  into  smaller  units,  each  susceptible  of  treatment  within 
the  limit  of  a  single  period,  each  complete  and  expressive  of 
some  vital  part  in  the  development  of  the  whole.  The  treat- 
ment of  these  parts  should  be  that  of  the  regular  reading  lesson 
and  those  portions  not  taken  up  in  the  class  may  be  assigned  for 
home  reading  to  be  reported  on  orally  by  the  class  as  an  intro- 
duction to  the  next  lesson. 

If  the  literature  study  of  the  higher  grades  is  carried  on 
along  such  lines  as  have  here  been  suggested,  we  may  hope  to 
create  in  the  children's  minds  a  love  for  the  best.  There  will 
be  no  drudging  recitation  of  memorized  notes.  Deadly  analy- 
sis of  sentences  will  not  rob  the  children  of  any  appreciation  of 
the  content.  The  class  will  come  to  the  lesson  with  eagerness 
to  read.  The  masterpiece  itself  will  leave  a  lasting  impression 
upon  the  pupils  and  the  teacher  to  some  extent  will  have  suc- 
ceeded in  establishing  a  standard  of  critical  literary  taste. 

Summary. — Where  the  dominant  aim  is  the  portrayal  of  a  per- 
sonality, the  study  of  form  should  be  subordinated  to  the  himian 
interest  of  the  story. 


CHAPTER  X 
THE    ORAL    REPRODUCTION    OF    STORIES 

The  aim  in  this  work  is,  first,  to  furnish  the  child  with  a 
knowledge  of  stories  that  will  add  to  his  general  culture. 
Secondly,  to  enrich  a  valuable  ethical  idea  with  an  attractive 
story.  Thirdly,  to  give  the  child  exercise  in  the  use  of  accurate 
EngHsh.  Fourthly,  to  increase  the  child's  vocabulary.  Fifthly, 
to  give  concrete  illustrations  of  important  rhetorical  principles 
of  narrative,  such  as  unity,  proportion,  climax,  etc.  Sixthly, 
to  lend  interest  and  variety  to  school  work. 

The  stories  which  are  selected  for  oral  or  for  written  repro- 
duction by  the  children  should  possess  some  of  the  following 
characteristics: 

1.  There  should  be  a  strong  predominance  of  the  narrative 
element.  The  earliest  Hterary  expression  of  the  human  race 
was  in  the  form  of  narration.  The  child  is  more  strongly 
attracted  by  things  done  than  by  things  seen.  Movement 
is  the  earliest  phase  of  a  conscious  life.  This  interest  in  action 
remains  strong  throughout  life.  It  is  easier  to  interest  through 
a  play  than  through  a  novel.  Pantomime  is  more  expressive 
than  language,  and  if  we  are  to  be  determined  in  our  choice 
by  the  interests  of  the  children,  we  should  see  to  it  that  narra- 
tion forms  a  large  part  of  the  content  of  the  stories. 

2.  The  stories  should  contain  phases  of  child  Hfe.  Our 
entire  discussion  of  method  centers  around  the  idea  that  the 
child  and  the  interests  of  the  child  should  be  the  determinant 
of  content  and  of  method.  It  may  be  pertinent  to  point  out  in 
this  connection  that  the  same  suggestions  which  will  be  made 
regarding  the  selection  of  poems  for  memorizing  should  be 


94  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

followed  here.  If  the  story  possesses  the  quality  of  the  classic, 
it  will  be  not  only  interesting  to  the  child  but  capable  of  broader 
interpretation  as  the  experience  of  the  child  increases. 

3.  The  story  must  be  well  constructed,  leading  up  to  a  defi- 
nite climax.  The  greatest  weakness  in  a  child's  telling  of  a 
story  is  its  "  flabbiness."  Nor  is  this  true  entirely  of  children. 
It  is  only  the  trained  raconteur  who  can  so  dispose  the  parts 
of  his  story  as  to  keep  up  interest,  maintain  suspense,  and 
deliver  himself  of  a  telling  climax. 

4.  The  story  either  should  be  complete  or  should  be  sus- 
ceptible of  division  into  well-defined  units.  The  complete 
story  would,  of  course,  be  very  brief  and  partake  more  of 
the  nature  of  an  anecdote.  Such  work  does  not  require  pro- 
longed interest  and  while  it  may  be  of  value  in  the  lowest 
class,  it  should  occasionally  give  way  in  the  upper  grades  to 
the  longer  story.  It  must,  of  course,  be  admitted  that  to  a 
child  in  the  second  half  of  the  first  year,  it  is  a  difficult  task 
to  maintain  interest  in  one  story  for  a  great  length  of  time. 
This  difficulty  can  be  met  by  selecting  stories  which  embody 
the  cumulative  element. 

5.  The  story  should  have  distinct  ethical,  artistic,  correla- 
tive, or  literary  value. 

6.  It  shuld  admit  of  being  told  in  the  simplest  language. 

7.  It  should  admit  of  expansion  through  richness  of  detail. 
One  of  these  suggestions,  viz.,  that  the  stories  should  have 

a  correlative  value,  calls  for  explanation.  Stories  from  Kip- 
ling, Thompson,  and  Long,  for  example,  may  be  used  in  connec- 
tion with  nature  study.  Stories  of  the  school  and  of  home  Hfe 
may  be  taken  from  an  almost  unlimited  number  of  literary 
sources.  Those  which  deal  with  the  subjects  of  the  course  of 
study  may  be  found  already  told  in  suitable  form  by  such 
writers  as  McMurry,  Pratt,  and  Kean.  Stories  which  will 
grow  out  of  the  excursions  taken  by  the  class  may  be  such  as 
deal  with  monuments,  tablets,  etc.    While  the  work  in  ethics 


ORAL  REPRODUCTION  OF  STORIES  95 

may  be  made  vivid  and  interesting  by  using  Biblical  stories 
for  purposes  of  illustration. 

For  excellent  suggestions  as  to  the  method  of  telling  these 
stories  to  the  children,  the  teacher  should  consult  McMurry's 
"Special  Method  of  Primary  Reading,"  or  Sarah  Cone  Bry- 
ant's "How  to  Tell  Stories  to  Children."  A  few  hints  may  be 
given  here: 

1.  Tell  the  story  in  an  easy  manner,  interrupting  yourself 
at  times  to  ask  questions  of  the  children.  Do  not  read  the 
story,  and  be  continually  on  the  lookout  that  the  language 
you  employ  is  suited  to  a  child. 

2.  In  telling  the  story,  emphasize  certain  words  and  expres- 
sions which  will  add  to  the  vocabulary  of  the  children,  and  see 
to  it  that  these  are  used  by  the  children  in  the  reproduction. 

3.  In  the  questioning  with  which  you  interrupt  your  own 
telling  of  the  story,  never  allow  indiscriminate  answering  from 
the  entire  class. 

4.  Never  have  a  story  absolutely  memorized  by  the  children. 

5.  When  the  children  reproduce  a  story,  ask  them,  at  times, 
to  face  the  class. 

6.  Be  alert  in  preventing  discursiveness. 

7.  Just  as  you  should  make  your  telling  of  the  story  ani- 
mated by  dramatization  and  characterization,  so  you  should 
demand  the  same  of  the  children  when  they  reproduce.  Occa- 
sionally, have  the  reproduction  take  the  form  of  a  dramatic 
dialogue.  Insist  that  the  children  inflect  their  voices,  phrasing 
to  imitate  the  different  speakers. 

8.  Never  break  the  thread  of  the  story  told  by  the  children  for 
the  purpose  of  correcting  errors  in  English.  When  errors  are 
made,  let  your  correction  be  given  in  a  casual  way.  Suggest  the 
right  word  and  have  the  child  proceed  with  as  Uttle  interruption 
as  possible.   Do  not  try  to  teach  correct  forms  during  this  period. 

9.  Insist  upon  complete  sentences  in  the  answers  given  by 
the  children. 


96  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

10.  Do  not  leave  a  story  until  most  of  the  class  are  able  to 
reproduce  it. 

11.  Occasionally  give,  through  a  picture  or  some  other  de- 
vice, the  beginning  or  the  elements  of  a  story,  and  ask  the 
children  either  to  finish  or  to  compose  the  story  from  the  ele- 
ments given. 

12.  In  reporting  a  story  in  your  plan  book,  if  you  keep  one, 
include,  in  synopticaliform,  the  telling  points  of  the  story  as 
you  have  given  them.  This  will  emphasize  for  you  the  need  of 
making  these  points  important,  and  will  make  your  work  more 
definite. 

The  method  of  securing  good  oral  and  written  reproductions 
of  stories  as  it  is  here  outlined  is  based  upon  one  employed  in 
the  schools  of  Yonkers,  where  it  has  been  tried  for  a  number 
of  years  with  great  success.  Whatever  originality  is  to  be 
claimed  for  the  present  method  lies  not  in  creation  but  in 
adaptation. 

The  number  of  stories  that  can  be  taken  up  in  any  one  term, 
according  to  this  method,  is  very  small.  It  must  therefore 
be  prefaced  that  the  total  number  of  stories  told  to  the  children 
in  any  one  term  should  not  be  limited  to  those  upon  which  this 
detailed  work  in  reproduction  is  to  be  spent.  It  will  usually 
be  found  that  not  more  than  three  stories  can  be  taken  up  in 
a  half  year.  In  addition  to  these,  the  teacher  should  select 
perhaps  half  a  dozen  others  which  she  will  take  up  in  a  much 
more  superficial  fashion,  calling  only  for  a  general  knowledge 
of  the  story  and  power  to  reproduce  it  in  as  good  English  as 
possible.  From  the  second  year  onward,  the  stories  that  are 
selected  should  be  classics  of  intrinsic  worth.  During  the  ele- 
mentary school  course,  the  child  may,  in  this  way  acquire  the 
power  to  tell,  in  fluent  and  original  style,  over  forty  stories 
of  gradually  increasing  length  and  complexity.  This,  it  must 
be  remembered,  will  be  in  addition  to  the  stories  told  in  merely 
a  cursory  fashion,  while  it  will  also  exclude  the  stories  used 


ORAL  REPRODUCTION  OF  STORIES  97 

in  correlation  with  history  or  geography,  or  derived  from  the 
reading  matter  of  the  grade. 

Because  so  few  stories  are  to  be  taken,  a  proportionately 
greater  burden  rests  upon  the  teacher.  Since  the  children 
will  be  occupied  with  only  one  story  during  perhaps  five  or  six 
weeks,  the  teacher  must  become  assured  that  the  self-activity 
of  the  children  is  really  at  work,  that  the  interest  is  spontane- 
ous, and  that  the  energy  put  forth  is  free  and  dominated  by  a 
live  valuation  of  the  end  to  be  attained. 

Suggestions  as  to  how  this  kind  of  interest  may  be  directed 
to  this  work  will  be  of  value.  Class-room  decoration  should 
display  some  unit-idea  applicable  to  the  work  of  the  grade, 
and  suited  to  the  age  of  the  children.  The  idea  should  be  the 
center  which  will  dominate  the  teacher's  choice  of  stories  for 
oral  reproduction. 

First  Year  —  *' Mother  Goose  Room."  Here  the  pictures 
illustrating  a  nursery  rhyme  may  decorate  the  room  and 
the  central  feature  of  the  decoration  may  be  Mother  Goose 
herself,  broom  in  hand.  Other  figures  may  be  those  taken 
from  the  jingles  and  the  nursery  rhymes.  Wherever  possible, 
number  work  should  grow  out  of  incidents  of  the  jingles.  The 
illustrative  drawing  may  be  made  to  center  around  the  story 
work.  The  reading  would  be  of  these  stories,  and  the  oral 
reproduction  would  be  of  stories  taken  from  a  Mother  Goose 
book. 

"The  Farm  Yard."  —  Here  the  decorations  may  be  alto- 
gether of  country  scenes  and  of  domestic  animals.  A  corner  of 
the  room  may  be  set  apart  for  a  small  model  farm.  The  toy 
farm,  chicken-coop,  stable,  etc.,  and  the  toy  animals  would 
be  readily  furnished  by  the  children.  In  addition,  there  could 
be  regular  planting  of  grass,  com,  oats,  etc.,  in  small  pots  of 
earth  into  which  the  farm  proper  might  be  divided.  Manual 
training  work  would  consist  of  the  making  of  farmers'  imple- 
ments of  all  kinds,  the  building  of  a  toy  fence,  the  pickets 


98  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

being  made  of  cardboard  and  the  cross-pieces  being  glued  to 
the  upright  sticks.  The  drawing  would  be  of  children  posing 
in  attitudes  indicative  of  the  work  of  the  farmer.  Number 
work  could  be  associated  with  life  on  the  farm.  Finally, 
stories  for  oral  reproduction,  besides  much  of  the  reading  work, 
would  center  around  this  idea,  and  would  always  be  interesting 
because  of  the  presence  of  these  objects  in  the  room. 

Second  Year  —  "Animal  Land."  The  pictures  here  might 
be  of  animals  of  all  kinds,  some  stuffed  specimens  even  being 
procured  for  permanent  or  for  temporary  exhibition.  Here 
again  the  stories  should  center  around  the  unit-idea  which 
dominates  all  the  work  of  the  grade. 

Other   suggestions  would   be   as   follows: 

Second  Year  —  "Fairy  Land."  The  central  figure  of  the 
decorations  might  be  a  fairy  queen  with  wand  in  her  hand. 

Third    Year  —  Hiawatha,   Dutch   Room,   Japanese    Room. 

Fourth  Year  —  Peter  Stuyvesant  Room,  Old  New  York, 
"Peter  Pan"  Room,  Washington  Irving. 

Fifth  Year  —  Old  Spain,  Old  World  Heroes,  Ruskin  Room, 
Colonial  Room. 

Sixth  Year  —  The  Minute  Men,  The  Henry  Clay  Room, 
Nathan  Hale  Room,  The  Patrick  Henry  Room. 

Seventh  Year  —  Longfellow  Room,  Hawthorne  Room,  Merry 
England. 

Eighth  Year  —  Shakespeare  Room. 

In  addition  to  these  suggestions,  it  will,  of  course,  be  seen 
that  it  is  possible  from  the  fifth  year  upwards  to  name  a  room 
after  some  American  or  English  author,  to  have  the  pictures 
deal  with  that  author  or  his  works,  to  have  the  stories  alto- 
gether from  the  writer  in  question,  and  thus,  by  a  regular 
graded  course,  to  have  the  children  become  acquainted,  as 
they  pass  onward  through  the  school,  with  the  life  and  the 
works  of  many  representative  authors. 

This  general  preparation  might  be  supplemented  by  much 


ORAL  REPRODUCTION  OF  STORIES  99 

additional  material  particularly  appropriate  to  the  stories  taken 
up  in  connection  with  this  kind  of  work.  The  pictures  dealing 
with  incidents  of  the  story,  or  with  places  directly  or  indirectly 
concerned  with  its  content,  may  be  collected  by  the  teacher  and 
shown  to  the  class  at  the  right  time.  Pupils  may  form  scrap 
books  containing  appropriate  pictures.  In  fact,  any  clever 
teacher  will  work  out  devices  of  many  kinds  which  will  lend 
interest  to  this  kind  of  work,  and  make  the  words  of  the  story 
stand  for  realities  in  the  minds  of  the  children. 

When  the  teacher  has  prepared  the  general  atmosphere,  so 
to  speak,  of  the  room,  and  has  selected  her  stories  in  accordance 
with  the  name  of  the  room,  she  is  ready  to  proceed  with  the 
actual  work.  The  story  itself  must  be  interesting,  must  move 
definitely  and  steadily  to  a  climax.  If  possible,  it  should  be 
a  story  that  carries  with  it  definite  ethical  content,  or  his- 
torical or  literary  value.  It  is  a  matter  of  very  little  impor- 
tance what  the  original  form  of  the  story  may  be  which  the 
teacher  is  about  to  use.  It  is  not  necessary  that  the  printed 
story  in  amplified  form  should  ever  be  given  to  the  children. 

In  preparing  her  work,  the  teacher  should  plan  first  to  tell 
the  story  in  such  a  way  as  she  would,  were  she  to  require  only 
the  ordinary  reproduction.  Her  presentation  should  be  ani- 
mated and  vivid,  and  should  be  made  interesting  by  the  intro- 
duction of  many  details  and  much  illustrative  material.  Bright 
children  may  be  called  upon  to  reproduce  the  story  in  a  general 
way.  The  teacher  may  devote  two  or  three  lessons  to  this 
work,  until  she  feels  assured  that  the  general  outline  has  been 
fairly  well  fixed.  In  the  higher  grades,  she  may,  with  the  aid 
of  the  pupils,  develop  a  topical  outUne  showing  the  sequence 
and  the  relative  importance  of  the  incidents  of  the  story.  This 
outline  may  be  copied  by  the  children  in  their  note-books  and 
there  kept  for  future  reference. 

The  next  step  in  the  preparation  of  the  teacher  should  be 
the  division  of  the  story  into  unit  parts.    These  may  be  of 


lOO  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

various  types.  First,  the  unit  may  be  a  description  of  some 
person  or  of.  some  place  mentioned  in  the  story.  Secondly, 
it  may  be  some  single  episode,  or  a  part  of  an  episode,  of  suffi- 
cient importance  in  the  general  narrative  to  warrant  its  being 
made  the  subject  of  detailed  treatment. 

It  would  be  well  for  the  teacher,  in  beginning  this  work,  to 
write  out  in  her  plan  book  in  very  brief  and  simple  form,  the 
description  or  the  incident  which  is  to  be  the  basis  for  later 
expansion  by  the  children.  From  this  brief,  written  statement, 
she  should  select  a  half  dozen  or  more  words  or  phrases  or  ideas 
to  be  developed. 

The  introduction  to  the  first  lesson  in  the  real  reproduction 
may  consist  of  an  explanation  of  the  work  that  the  class  is 
to  do.  Even  in  the  lower  grades,  this  explanation  could  be 
made  so  that  the  children  will  understand  the  aim  of  the  exer- 
cise. The  teacher  should  explain  that  the  idea  of  the  story  is, 
of  course,  not  the  children's  own.  The  story  was  written  by 
some  great  man  or  woman,  and  represents  that  writer's  idea 
of  the  way  the  story  should  be  told.  The  language,  however, 
which  that  writer  has  used,  is  perhaps  too  difficult  for  the 
children  to  understand.  "At  all  events,  it  is  much  better  to 
make  up  your  own  words  for  the  story,  to  tell  it  in  your  own 
way,  so  that  when  you  have  finished,  you  will  feel  that  when 
you  now  tell  the  story,  while  the  idea  may  not  be  yours,  you  may 
really  call  it  your  own  since  most  of  the  language  in  it  you  have 
made  up  yourself.  No  boy  would  like  to  tell  a  story  in  just 
the  same  words  that  this  great  writer  did,  because  if  he  did, 
the  story  would  not  be  his  own.  In  the  same  way,  every  boy 
in  the  class  should  try  to  tell  the  story  in  a  way  that  will  be 
different  from  that  used  by  any  other  boy.  When  we  are 
through  with  the  story,"  the  teacher  may  continue,  "I  hope 
that  while  in  some  parts  a  number  of  the  boys  in  the  class  will 
tell  the  story  in  the  same  way,  still  in  most  portions  each  boy 
will  tell  it  in  his  own  way,  and  use  his  own  words."    In  some 


ORAL  REPRODUCTION  OF  STORIES  loi 

such  manner  as  this,  the  teacher  may  emphasize  the  point  that 
the  central  aim  of  the  work  should  be  originality  in  finding  ways 
of  telling  the  story.  With  an  introduction  of  this  kind,  made 
in  a  sympathetic  way  by  the  teacher,  she  is  ready  to  proceed. 

A  few  questions  will  recall  to  the  class  the  opening  incident 
of  the  story.  This  should  be  reduced  finally  to  perhaps  half 
a  dozen  sentences.  The  teacher  then  directs  attention  to 
the  first  of  the  words  or  phrases  already  selected  as  the  basis 
for  expansion  and  variation  by  the  children*,  Let  us  suppose 
that  the  phrase  is  "Once  upon  a  time'^',  tiie^  teacher  says, 
"Now  what  boy  can  begin  the  story  so  ap>'4:o- gis^^'fn^ fJle idfeH 
'Once  upon  a  time,'  and  yet  not  use  theSe  wdfdS?'"'  The  bright- 
est of  the  class  will  at  once  respond.  In  a  very  short  time, 
there  will  be  half  a  dozen  or  more  variations.  The  teacher 
should  particularly  encourage  those  who,  in  giving  their  equiva- 
lent expression,  expand  the  idea  by  giving  the  event,  for  example, 
a  definite  location  in  time.  This  particular  phrase,  for  example, 
happened  to  be  the  first  element  for  expansion  chosen  by  the 
teacher  in  telling  the  story  of  William  Tell,  and  one  of  the 
variations  given  by  a  boy  in  the  class  was,  "Years  and  years 
ago,  before  there  were  any  countries  in  Europe  as  there  are 
to-day,  before  gunpowder  was  used,  and  when  guns  were  un- 
known," etc.    This  was  in  the  first  half  of  the  fifth  year. 

The  teacher  may  then  write  on  the  board  in  colored  chalk 
the  phrase  as  it  is  in  the  original  story.  She  should  sympa- 
thetically encourage  children  to  give  their  own  statements 
and  should  quietly  and  yet  firmly  insist  upon  correct  English 
and  clear  enunciation.  Commendation  should  be  frequent,  and 
particularly  good  equivalent  expressions  may  be  written  on 
the  board  in  white  chalk,  under  the  phrase  of  which  they  are 
the  equivalents.  In  a  few  minutes,  a  dozen  or  so  of  these 
phrases  will  be  secured  from  the  class. 

The  teacher  may  then  pass  on  to  the  next  phrase  or  idea 
selected  for  variation,  making  the  transition  from  the  first  by 


I02  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

questioning  the  class  as  to  the  story,  or  rather  the  parts  of  the 
story  which  connect  the  first  with  the  second.  Following  a 
method  like  that  already  described,  variant  expressions  of  the 
second  may  then  be  secured.  These  are  once  more  written  on 
the  board,  the  connecting  parts  between  the  second  and  third 
phrases  selected  by  the  teacher  are  brought  out  by  questioning, 
and  so  part  of  the  story  set  apart  for  the  first  day  is  taken 
up.  The  teacher  may  then  explain  to  the  class  that  now  they 
are  ready  to  tell  the  fia*st  part,  but  that  they  should  select  from 
the-differenc  w^y6^oi  expressing  an  idea  that  particular  one 
^hieh '  they  ^Hke  best.  Sometimes  this  will  be  one  that  they 
themselves  liave^  -given'.  Frequently,  they  will  merely  be 
adopting  a  form  given  by  one  of  the  other  children,  and  the 
teacher  may  further  suggest  that  they  are  allowed  to  find  out 
for  themselves  still  other  ways  of  expressing  the  idea,  and  are 
to  use  these  in  their  telling  of  the  story. 

Every  boy  should  be  provided  with  a  blank  book  in  which 
he  will  write  the  expressions  he  intends  to  use  in  telling 
the  story.  He  may  be  reminded  that  if  at  any  later  time  he 
wishes  to  substitute  for  an  expression  that  he  has  previously 
used,  some  other  which  he  now  thinks  better,  he  may  do  so. 
A  lesson  of  this  kind  should  be  followed  immediately  by  the 
spelling  lesson  of  the  day  and  the  words  taken  up  should  be 
words  selected  from  the  expressions  given  by  the  teacher,  such 
words  as  would  present  difficulties  in  spelling  when  the  children 
come  to  write  out  the  story. 

Sheets  of  oak-tag  may  then  be  prepared  by  the  teacher  on 
which  will  be  written  the  original  expression  from  the  story, 
together  with  a  half-dozen  of  the  best  equivalents  given  by  the 
children.  It  will  be  sufficient  reward  for  any  boy,  and  suf- 
ficient impetus  in  this  kind  of  work,  to  have  his  own  words 
selected  by  the  teacher  to  be  placed  before  the  class  as  a  model. 

In  addition  to  the  expressions  given  by  the  children,  the 
teacher  may  carefully,   although  in   the  beginning  not  too 


ORAL  REPRODUCTION  OF  STORIES  103 

frequently,  give  expressions  of  her  own  using  words  that  she 
may  wish  to  add  to  the  vocabulary  of  the  children.  All  these 
should  be  carefully  thought  out  in  advance. 

Two  or  three  lessons  a  week  are  all  that  need  be  given  to 
this  kind  of  work.  No  period  need  last  more  than  twenty-five 
or  thirty  minutes,  and  each  should  begin  with  a  review  of  the 
incidents  already  covered.  At  the  first  two  or  three  reviews, 
the  charts  prepared  by  the  teacher,  containing  the  Hsts  of 
equivalent  expressions  given  by  the  children,  may  be  on 
view  before  the  class.  Later  it  will  be  found  that  the  use 
of  these  expressions  has  become  familiar  to  the  children, 
and  that  they  will  no  longer  need  the  suggestion  of  the 
teacher's  list.  At  all  times,  however,  they  are  to  be  allowed 
to  have  before  them  their  note-books  containing  the  selections 
from  the  Hsts  which  they  intend  to  employ  in  their  own 
rendition  of  the  story. 

When  the  teacher  has  reached  perhaps  the  fifth  period  of 
oral  reproduction,  the  first  attempt  to  write  may  be  made. 
The  first  written  lesson  should  cover  only  the  first  incident  of 
the  story.  It  may  be  preceded  by  a  telling  of  that  incident 
rapidly  by  a  number  of  the  brightest  children.  When  the 
actual  writing  begins,  the  teacher  should  move  rapidly  and 
quietly  around  the  room,  continually  on  the  lookout  for  errors, 
and  ever  ready  with  suggestions.  Pupils  may  have,  besides 
the  paper  on  which  the  story  itself  is  to  be  written,  a  smaller 
piece  of  paper,  and  may  be  directed  by  the  teacher  not  to 
write  any  word  regarding  the  spelling  of  which  they  are  un- 
certain. When  they  come  to  such  a  word  in  the  course  of  their 
story,  they  should  attract  the  attention  of  the  teacher  and  ask 
for  the  spelling.  While  at  times  the  teacher  may  ask  the 
children  to  spell  the  word  for  themselves,  or  may  ask  some 
other  pupil  to  help,  it  will  most  frequently  be  found  best  to 
write  the  word  directly  for  the  children  on  the  extra  piece  of 
paper,  and    to    have  them  copy  the  form    in    their  stories. 


I04  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

This  method  may  be  applied  not  only  to  spelling,  but  to  punc- 
tuation, and  even  to  the  choice  and  arrangement  of  words. 
It  will  readily  be  seen  that  the  desire  to  write  the  story  in 
correct  form  will  supply  a  motive  to  the  children  for  the  study 
of  rules  of  punctuation,  such  as  the  use  of  the  quotation  marks, 
etc.  All  such  work  should  carefully  be  correlated  by  the 
teacher  with  this  work  in  oral  reproduction.  When  the  idea 
of  the  written  work  is  once  thoroughly  grasped  by  the  children, 
it  will  be  found  that  in  a  single  written  lesson  they  can  cover 
two  or  three  incidents.  In  this  way  the  written  work  will  soon 
catch  up  with  the  oral. 

It  must,  however,  be  remembered  that  it  would  be  impossible 
to  cover  the  work  if  at  every  succeeding  lesson  the  children 
were  to  write  the  story  from  the  very  beginning.  It  might, 
therefore,  be  advisable  to  keep  the  written  work  of  the  children 
in  envelopes,  one  envelope  being  set  aside  for  each  child.  The 
product  of  each  written  lesson  could  be  placed  in  the  children's 
envelopes  so  that  as  the  work  proceeds,  they  will  gradually  sup- 
ply themselves  with  separate  sheets  which  when  put  together 
will  form  the  complete  story.  A  study  period  may  be  devoted 
to  writing  the  story  as  a  unit,  or  this  exercise  may  be  assigned 
to  the  children  for  home  work. 

In  addition  to  the  four  forms  of  the  work  already  described, 
namely,  giving  the  varying  expressions,  combining  the  vary- 
ing expressions  in  a  connected  account,  reviewing  the  selected 
expressions  at  the  beginning  of  each  new  lesson,  and  writing 
the  story  itself,  all  devices  ordinarily  used  by  the  teacher 
in  regular  reading  work  should  be  employed.  Of  these,  two 
forms  of  dramatization  will  be  found  to  be  effective.  In  the 
first  form,  a  child  may  be  selected  to  stand  at  the  front  of  the 
room  and  to  tell  the  story.  Others,  previously  picked  out 
and  assigned  to  take  different  parts  in  the  story,  come  for- 
ward as  their  cues  are  given  to  them  by  the  narrator  in  the 
telhng  of  the  story,  and  in  pantomime  go  through  the  actions 


ORAL  REPRODUCTION  OF  STORIES  105 

called  for  by  their  part  of  the  story.  In  the  second  form  of 
dramatization,  the  narrator  gives  all  the  descriptive  parts,  the 
children  following  in  pantomime;  but  when  any  part  of  the 
story  is  reached  which  calls  for  dialogue,  the  narrator  stops 
and  the  dialogue  is  taken  up  in  the  direct  form  by  the  actors 
themselves.  To  sustain  interest  and  to  inspire  the  brighter 
children  to  put  forth  their  best  efforts,  the  teacher  may  an- 
nounce that  when  any  story  has  been  finished,  a  child  will  be 
selected  to  go  to  some  other  class  and  tell  the  story,  while  a 
child  from  that  class  will  later  entertain.  Or  a  pupil  may  be 
selected  to  stand  before  the  assembly  and  tell  the  story  learned 
in  the  class-room.  This  incentive  of  a  changed  or  a  larger 
audience  will  be  all  that  is  necessary  to  call  forth  the  best  work. 

It  is  necessary  to  give  a  word  of  caution  to  the  teacher. 
When  once  the  children  understand  the  idea  of  the  method,  the 
brighter  ones  will  become  wildly  enthusiastic  in  giving  expres- 
sions and  in  volunteering  to  tell  the  story.  It  should  be  the 
aim  of  the  teacher  not  only  to  develop  the  powers  of  the  brighter 
children,  but  also  to  lead  out  the  more  reticent  ones,  and  those 
whose  vocabulary  is  more  limited  or  whose  intelligence  is  less 
quick.  In  other  words,  the  teacher  should  take  care  that  while 
a  high  degree  of  excellence  is  reached  by  the  brighter  pupils 
of  the  class,  the  slower  ones  will  not  be  neglected.  In  brief, 
it  should  be  the  aim  of  the  teacher  continually  to  keep  in  mind 
that  the  story  when  told  is  given  not  by  the  entire  class  but 
by  individuals  of  the  class.  She  should,  therefore,  constantly 
aim  to  reach  the  individual. 

It  may  be  objected  that  the  children  are  really  committing 
to  memory  a  set  form  of  the  story.  To  a  certain  extent  this 
is  true.  But  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  expressions 
which  they  do  commit  to  memory  are  either  their  own  or  those 
which  they  have  voluntarily  selected  from  a  large  Ust,  and, 
therefore,  such  as  represent  their  judgment  and  intelligent 
choice. 


lo6  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

Good  style  and  a  large  vocabulary  cannot  be  secured  merely 
by  emphasis  upon  the  impressive  side  of  teaching.  This  method 
gives  a  motive  for  the  extension  of  one's  vocabulary,  makes 
desirable  the  committing  to  memory  of  excellent  words  and 
phrases,  and  furthermore,  furnishes  an  interesting  and  vital 
form  of  expression  to  the  children.  At  the  beginning,  the  work 
is  slow  and  tends  to  discouragement;  but  at  the  end  of  one 
term,  a  class  enters  upon  its  new  work  with  a  sure  knowledge 
of  what  is  expected.  In  such  cases,  provided  the  enthusiasm 
of  the  teacher  does  not  abate,  the  results  are  so  astoimding  as 
to  make  it  almost  impossible  to  believe  that  children  have  com- 
posed the  sort  of  story  one  frequently  hears  in  the  course  of 
a  regular  lesson.  It  will  be  found  that  in  the  higher  grades, 
children  frequently  consult  the  dictionary  in  order  to  find 
better  equivalent  expressions.  Phrases  and  whole  sentences 
are  adapted  from  memory  gems  or  from  reading  lessons,  and 
are  fitted  into  the  story  which  the  children  are  studying.  In 
short,  the  method  provides  an  interesting  and  effective  way  of 
giving  children  a  better  command  over  the  language. 

An  adaptation  of  this  method  consists  in  a  difference  in  the 
method  of  originally  presenting  the  story.  In  this  variation, 
instead  of  having  a  story  told  by  the  teacher  and  reproduced 
by  the  children  in  general  form,  the  teacher  supplies  herself 
with  a  number  of  pictures  forming  a  connected  sequence,  and 
each  depicting  an  important  incident  of  the  story.  A  picture 
is  given  to  the  children  and  they  are  called  upon  to  describe 
it  or  to  tell  the  story  in  their  own  language.  This  original 
account  forms  the  basis  of  the  later  variations  by  the  children, 
thus  taking  the  place  of  the  telling  of  the  story  by  the  teacher. 
There  are  two  drawbacks  to  this  method:  In  the  first  place, 
the  children  require  earlier  training  in  the  telling  of  stories 
from  pictures.  In  the  second  place,  it  is  difl&cult  to  get  a 
sufiiciently  large  number  of  pictures  of  the  right  kind. 

Finally  it  will  be  noted  that  in  this  method  of  story  telling, 


ORAL  REPRODUCTION  OF  STORIES  107 

there  is  a  combination  of  the  element  of  narration,  description, 
and  exposition.  This  combination  is  rarely  found  in  the 
formal  composition  work  of  the  elementary  schools,  and  yet 
it  is  characteristic  of  any  good  original  work  such  as  the  chil- 
dren may  be  called  upon  to  do  in  life.  It,  therefore,  acquires 
a  new  value  as  being  more  spontaneous  and  more  nearly  ex- 
pressive of  actual  conditions  in  composition  writing. 

Summary. — The  aims  of  the  work  with  stories  are  (i)  to  add  to 
the  child's  general  culture;  (2)  to  enrich  a  valuable  ethical  idea 
with  an  attractive  story;  (3)  to  give  exercise  in  the  use  of  accurate 
English;  (4)  to  increase  the  vocabulary;  (5)  to  illustrate  principles 
of  narrative  composition;  (6)  to  lend  variety  to  school  work.  The 
story  should  be  selected  with  these  ideas  in  mind:  (i)  The  narra- 
tive element  should  predominate.  (2)  Phases  of  child  life  should 
be  represented.  (3)  The  story  must  be  well  constructed.  (4)  It 
should  admit  of  easy  division  into  units.  (5)  It  should  have  ethical, 
artistic,  or  Hterary  value.  (6)  It  should  be  simple.  (7)  It  should  ad- 
mit of  expansion  through  richness  of  detail.  In  each  grade  the  stories 
selected  for  oral  reproduction  should  center  about  some  unit.  Wher- 
ever possible,  the  other  work  of  the  grade  should  lead  up  to  or  grow 
out  of  this  central  idea.  Illustrative  material  of  many  kinds  should 
be  freely  employed.  After  a  vivid  presentation  of  the  story  by  the 
teacher,  the  sequence  of  episodes  should  be  fixed  in  the  minds  of 
the  pupils.  Taking  the  first  episode  or  unit  for  the  opening  lesson,  the 
teacher  after  explaining  the  aim  of  the  exercise  should  call  for  ampli- 
fications and  variations.  The  best  of  these  should  be  used  by  the 
pupils  and  later  preserved  in  notebooks.  Many  equivalent  expres- 
sions should  be  presented  to  the  class,  thus  permitting  free  choice. 
Constant  repetition  in  the  succeeding  lessons  should  fix  the  story  in 
mind.  This  work  should  be  combined  with  written  composition, 
spelling,  and  exercises  in  the  technique  of  written  and  oral  English. 
Dramatization  of  the  stories  should  be  frequently  employed.  An 
adaptation  of  the  method  substitutes  for  the  telling  of  the  story  by 
the  teacher  the  presentation  of  sequential  pictures  portraying  lead- 
ing incidents  of  the  narrative. 


CHAPTER  XI 
MEMORY    GEMS 

In  a  superficial  way,  it  may  be  said  that  memory  depends 
upon  the  depth  of  the  original  impression,  upon  thoughtful 
repetition,  and  upon  the  number  of  associations  formed  in  the 
mind.  From  the  teacher's  point  of  view,  the  important  thing 
is  not  so  much  that  the  child  shall  remember  a  poem  or  a  prose 
quotation  of  accepted  merit,  as  it  is  that  this  quotation  shall 
become  so  interwoven  with  his  thinking  that  its  recall  will  be 
quick  and  ready,  and  that  it  will  rise  spontaneously  into  con- 
sciousness under  widely  varying  conditions. 

For  example,  if  we  are  teaching  a  poem  like  Longfellow's 
"The  Light  of  Stars,"  and  our  aim  is  to  make  vivid  to  the 
child  the  lesson  of  determination  and  strong  endeavor,  we 
must  aim  to  make  such  an  impression  that  the  child,  perhaps 
under  the  stress  of  some  crisis  in  his  life,  may  bring  to  the 
support  of  a  wavering  determination  the  lesson  and  the  inspira- 
tion of  the  poem.  For  the  teacher,  it  is  of  worse  than  no  value 
if  the  child  passes  through  the  crisis,  and  at  some  later  period, 
chides  himself  with  the  knowledge  that  had  he  but  recalled 
the  lesson  of  the  poem  at  the  right  moment,  he  might  have 
acquitted  himself  more  creditably.  It  is  of  little  value  merely 
to  know  a  thing.  The  world  rewards  those  who  know  the 
right  thing  at  the  right  time.  And  memory,  therefore,  is  of 
value  not  only  in  that  it  stores  the  mind  with  a  valuable  con- 
tent, but  chiefly  in  that  the  knowledge  is  so  organized  as  to 
deliver  up  that  content  ready  for  use  at  the  sHghtest  need. 

The  extent  to  which  a  new  state  of  consciousness  becomes 
interrelated    with    existent    states,    and    forms    associations 


MEMORY  GEMS  109 

which  provide  avenues  of  easy  recall,  is  determined  by  the 
extent  to  which  the  entire  interest,  or,  in  other  words,  the 
entire  available  self-activity  was  absorbed  in  the  act  of  learn- 
ing. The  child  who  repeats  parrot-fashion  a  collection  of 
words  meant  to  convey  a  geographical  or  an  historical  state- 
ment, while  his  mind  is  really  keenly  active  with  other  and 
more  interesting  things,  may  be  able  to  recall  the  words  of  the 
sentence  as  a  memory  of  the  concatenation  of  certain  sounds. 
When  the  freshness  of  this  sense-impression  disappears,  all 
trace  of  the  fact  is  gone  from  consciousness.  This  is  the  char- 
acteristic of  much  of  the  memorizing  done  while  cramming 
for  examinations.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  effort  to  remember 
is  lost  in  the  effort  to  understand,  because  the  individual  feels 
vital  interest  in  that  which  is  presented  to  him,  then  while  it 
may  be  true  that  mere  repetition  will  be  necessary  for  fixation, 
the  more  important  results  of  memory  will  really  have  been 
achieved;  namely,  increase  in  the  number  of  vital  associations 
formed,  and  ease  of  recall. 

The  problem,  therefore,  of  leading  children  to  memorize 
poems  or  prose  quotations  which  will  become  a  part  of  their 
life's  cultural  equipment,  may  be  considered  as  resolving  itself 
into  a  certain  number  of  preliminary  and  fundamental  prob- 
lems. First,  the  teacher  must  see  to  it  that  the  general  tone 
of  the  selection  to  be  memorized  shall  be  in  keeping  with  the 
stage  of  mental  development  that  the  child  has  attained  at 
the  period  in  which  it  is  aimed  to  have  the  memorizing  done. 
The  teacher  wishes  to  be  assured  that  the  entire  activity  of  the 
children  will  be  employed  in  the  act  of  learning.  This  will 
not  result  unless  the  entire  interest  of  the  child  is  absorbed  by 
the  subject  matter  presented  to  its  consciousness. 

Theoretically,  it  may  be  fine  to  ask  children  to  commit 
to  memory  maxims  and  Biblical  quotations  and  poems  and 
prose  moralizations  which,  in  the  sure  knowledge  of  the  teacher, 
will  be  of  incalculable  value  to  the  child  in  later  life.    It  is 


no  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

beautiful  theory  for  the  teacher  to  say  that  every  adult  should 
have,  as  part  of  his  cultural  equipment,  the  power  to  quote 
from  a  number  of  classic  writings,  perfect  in  form  or  elevated 
in  content.  We  are  told  that  since  youth  is  the  time  of  plas- 
ticity, the  teacher  should  have  the  children  learn  these  things 
in  school;  for  if  it  is  not  done  in  that  period,  no  opportunity 
will  be  given  for  such  a  learning  in  later  life. 

It  cannot  be  doubted  that  in  the  elementary  school  period 
of  a  child's  life,  this  memorizing  is  effected  with  less  expendi- 
ture of  energy  than  would  be  required  at  a  much  later  period. 
But  of  equal  importance  with  the  mere  impression  on  the  mind 
is  the  power  to  recall,  under  varying  conditions.  Recall  de- 
pends upon  associations;  and  associations  are  many  or  few, 
depending  upon  the  number  of  times  the  individual  thinks 
over  the  content  of  consciousness,  turns  it  over  in  his  mind, 
views  it  from  different  points,  and  regards  it  under  various 
aspects  of  his  continually  widening  experience.  There  can  be 
none  of  this  vital  thinking  unless  that  which  is  presented  to 
the  mind  of  the  child  is  vital  at  the  time  of  presentation.  Nor 
can  it  in  any  conceivable  way  be  vital  unless  it  is  capable  of 
immediate  understanding. 

We  cannot  expect  children  to  have  a  vivid  memory  unless 
vivid  interest  is  present  in  the  act  of  learning.  We  cannot 
teach,  that  is,  teach  in  the  right  way,  abstract  and  abstruse 
memorizings  to  a  child  of  ten.  True,  these  things  are  some- 
times held  in  mind  by  the  mere  force  of  their  sensuous  associa- 
tions, and  at  a  much  later  period  they  are  regarded  in  their 
fuller  and  deeper  thought  implications.  But  during  the  time 
that  elapses  between  the  mere  form  of  memorizing  and  the 
real  comprehension  of  their  inner  meaning,  they  have  been  a 
dormant  product  in  consciousness. 

We  do  not  intend  to  imply  by  this  that  the  child  shall  learn 
nothing  but  childish  things.  The  dominant  characteristic  of 
a  classic  is  its  universal  applicability.    It  knows  neither  time 


MEMORY  GEMS  III 

nor  place,  age  nor  clime.  It  is  perennially  young  and  yet  incal- 
culably old.  Only  the  best  should  be  given  to  the  child;  not 
the  best  from  the  adult  point  of  view  only,  but  that  which  will 
seem  best  to  the  child  and  yet  to  the  deeper  vision  of  the  teacher 
carry  with  it  possibilities  that  will  become  evident  to  the  child 
only  as  his  experience  broadens. 

The  teacher,  therefore,  should  select  for  memorizing  those 
things, which  have  a  vital  interest  to  the  child  at  the  time  of 
presentation.  They  should  be  suited  to  the  comprehension  of 
the  class.  They  should  be  an  expression  of  emotions  which 
may  rightly  be  conceived  as  lying  within  the  child,  struggling 
for  adequate  utterance.  On  the  other  hand,  the  selection 
should  be  such  that  as  the  thinking  of  the  child  increases  in 
complexity,  deeper  and  higher  meanings  will  become  attached 
to  thoughts  which  to  the  child  were  merely  thoughts  of  the 
child.  And  finally,  the  form  of  everything  that  is  memorized 
should  be  classic. 

As  an  illustration  of  this  point,  we  may  take  the  teaching 
of  Longfellow's  "Excelsior."  The  poem  has  a  message  full 
of  meaning  to  the  boy  of  twelve.  It  should  be  presented  so 
as  to  emphasize  the  spirit  of  heroic  endeavor,  of  determination, 
of  disregard  of  personal  danger.  The  pictures  should  be  de- 
veloped in  detail.  The  element  of  the  heroic  should  be  empha- 
sized. Treated  in  this  way  the  poem  is  sure  to  make  a  strong 
impression.  At  a  later  period  in  life,  the  symbolism  of  the  old 
man  and  the  maiden  may,  in  fact  must,  make  itself  felt 
to  the  developing  mind  as  it  dwells  more  closely  upon  the 
thought  of  the  poem.  But  that  which  constituted  the  aim  of 
the  teaching  at  the  moment  of  presentation  was  not  the  deeper 
meaning  of  the  poem  as  it  was  evident  to  the  teacher  from  the 
beginning,  and  as  the  teacher  hoped  it  would  someday  be  evident 
to  the  child;  the  aim  was  or  should  have  been  that  aspect  of 
the  poem  which  appeals  most  strongly  to  the  child  whose  task 
it  is  to  memorize. 


112  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

Secondly  —  Memorizing  is  not  a  general  power.  It  is  a 
specific  act,  and  as  such  it  depends  upon  specific  conditions. 
For  example,  Bryant's  "The  Gladness  of  Nature"  may  be  a 
poem  suited  to  the  child  of  the  fifth  year;  but  it  would  be  mani- 
festly ridiculous  to  expect  a  child  to  bend  himself  with  energy 
and  pleasure  to  the  learning  of  that  poem  on  some  dreary  day 
in  November  when  the  skies  are  gray  and  the  sharp  sleet  is 
rattling  against  the  window  panes,  and  the  dullness  of  life 
seems  to  cover  everything.  There  must  be  some  harmony 
between  external  conditions  and  the  content.  Sometimes, 
as  with  a  nature  poem,  this  may  be  secured  by  selecting  the 
poem  in  consonance  with  the  season,  the  weather,  etc.  The 
first  snow-storm  of  the  year,  for  example,  in  a  higher  grade 
may  call  for  the  abandonment  of  the  regular  plan  of  work, 
and  in  the  sixth  year,  Lowell's  "First  Snowfall"  may  be  memo- 
rized by  the  children.  "The  Planting  of  the  Appletree,"  while 
set  for  the  second  half  of  the  fifth  year,  for  instance,  in  the  New 
York  course  of  study,  may  be  taken  up  only  in  the  spring  term 
so  that  some  classes  will  learn  it  in  the  first  half  of  the  fifth 
year  and  others  in  the  second  half.  Poems  which  deal  with 
historical  events  may  be  taken  up  when  those  events  are  being 
treated  in  the  history  lessons  with  all  the  vividness  and  detail 
that  will  make  them  vital  and  interesting  to  the  children. 
Lowell's  poem,  "Aladdin,"  should  be  taken  up  not  as  a  separate 
lesson  but  only  in  connection  with  the  story  of  some  man  who 
achieved  greatness  from  humble  beginnings,  some  great  poet, 
or  thinker,  or  philanthropist.  The  center  of  the  work  should 
be  a  story  specially  adapted  to  the  purpose  and  the  poem  may 
be  memorized  to  fix  an  idea  already  illustrated  in  the  life  of  the 
man  considered.  In  other  words,  it  should  represent  to  the 
children  a  great  poet's  way  of  expressing  ideas  which  have  been 
aroused  in  their  minds  by  a  consideration  of  an  interesting  life. 

Thirdly  —  It  must  be  remembered  that  besides  these  two 
factors  of  general  suitability  to  the  comprehension  of  the  chil- 


MEMORY  GEMS  113 

dren,  and  of  particular  adaptation  or  correlation  between  the 
content  and  the  environment,  either  mental  or  physical,  of 
the  child  at  the  time  of  learning,  it  is  necessary  to  form  sensuous 
associations.  That  is  to  say,  remembering  is  not  merely  under- 
standing. It  is  also  knowing  the  words,  and  being  able  to  repeat 
them  exactly  as  the  author  wrote  them.  This  need  carries 
with  it  the  necessity  of  constant  repetition  and  drill.  It  is 
the  task  of  the  teacher  in  this  connection  to  make  this  repetition 
and  drill  interesting  to  the  children;  that  is  to  say,  to  supply 
a  motive  which  will  be  strong  enough  to  carry  the  children  in 
a  pleasurable  state  through  the  work  of  drudgery.  Sugges- 
tions as  to  how  this  can  be  done  may  be  gleaned  from  the  lessons 
which  follow.     Some  important  considerations  must  be  noted. 

First  —  Experiments  in  the  psychological  laboratories  prove 
conclusively  that  a  stanza  or  a  poem  is  better  remembered  when 
it  is  repeated  as  a  whole  than  when  successive  phrases  or  parts 
are  isolated,  repeated  until  they  become  fixed,  and  then  joined 
to  preceding  and  succeeding  parts. 

Secondly  —  It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  principle  of 
multiple-sense  teaching  is  of  paramoimt  importance  in  this 
connection.  The  children  must  hear,  must  see,  must  visualize, 
and  constantly  must  reproduce  if  they  are  to  be  expected  to 
remember. 

Thirdly  —  It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  unused  knowledge 
soon  ceases  to  be  real  knowledge.  Provision  should,  therefore, 
be  made  in  the  work  of  the  grades  to  have  constant  review  of 
those  poems  and  prose  selections  which  the  children  have 
memorized  in  the  lower  classes. 

The  real  teaching  of  the  memory  gem,  that  is  to  say,  the 
memorizing  by  the  children,  is  to  be  done  in  the  class-room 
under  the  direction  of  the  teacher.  Whatever  assignment 
of  work  there  may  be  for  home-study  should  be  of  a 
content  already  gone  over  in  school.  How  such  an  exercise 
may  be  conducted  will  be  made  clearer  by  considering  the 


114  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

treatment  in  a  fifth  or  sixth  year  class  of  the  first  stanza  of 
Longfellow's  ''The  Village  Blacksmith." 

Interest  always  lends  itself  to  a  biographical  note  connected 
with  the  writing  of  the  poem.  The  following  comment  is  pre- 
fixed to  the  poem  in  the  Standard  Edition  of  his  works: 

In  the  autumn  of  1839  Mr.  Longfellow  was  writing  psalms,  and  he 
notes  in  his  diary,  October  5th,  "Wrote  a  new  Psalm  of  Life.  It  is 
The  Village  Blacksmiths^  A  year  later  he  was  thinking  of  ballads, 
and  he  writes  to  his  father,  October  25th,  "My  pen  has  not  been 
very  prolific  of  late;  only  a  Httle  poetry  has  trickled  from  it.  There 
will  be  a  kind  of  ballad  on  a  Blacksmith  in  the  next  Knickerbocker 
(November,  1840),  which  you  may  consider,  if  you  please,  as  a  song 
in  praise  of  your  ancestor  at  Newbury  (the  first  Stephen  Long- 
fellow)." It  is  hardly  to  be  supposed,  however,  that  the  form  of  the 
poem  had  been  changed  during  the  year.  The  suggestion  of  the 
poem  came  from  the  smithy  which  the  poet  passed  daily,  and  which 
stood  beneath  a  horse-chestnut  tree  not  far  from  his  house  in  Cam- 
bridge. The  tree  was  removed  in  1876,  against  the  protests  of  Mr. 
Longfellow  and  others,  on  the  ground  that  it  imperiled  drivers  of 
heavy  loads  who  passed  under  it. 

Unless  the  class  is  interested  in  the  subject  of  the  poem, 
memorizing  becomes  drudgery.  We  commit  to  memory  those 
things  that  appeal  strongly  to  us.  We  wish  to  make  them 
part  of  ourselves.  If  the  children  are  to  go  about  this  work 
with  enthusiasm,  they  must  be  placed  completely  in  sympathy 
with  the  subject.  Show  pictures  of  the  smithy,  explaining 
the  word.  Explain  also  that  the  smith  is  the  ''smiter,"  the 
man  who  strikes.  Let  the  class  describe  a  blacksmith  shop  and 
tell  all  they  can  about  how  horseshoes  are  made.  Let  them 
understand  also  that  a  village  smith  must  do  more  than  merely 
make  horseshoes.  The  class  must  see  that  the  smith  is  a  strong 
man,  made  so  by  the  work  he  does. 

When  the  atmosphere  has  been  created,  the  teacher  may 
read  the  entire  poem,  without  extended  comment.    Then  the 


MEMORY  GEMS  115 

first  stanza  may  be  read  again,  after  the  teacher  has  called  for 
judgmeDt  on  the  worth  and  meaning  of  the  poem. 

Memorizing  is  easier  when  a  large  miit  is  repeated  than  when 
single  lines  or  phrases  are  droned  out  ceaselessly.  Call  on  the 
best  readers  to  try  to  give  full  expression.  In  every  case  the 
entire  stanza  should  be  repeated,  though  the  specific  direction 
to  each  pupil  may  refer  only  to  a  single  word.    Thus: 

"Show  by  your  reading  that  it  is  a  spreading  chestnut-tree.  Let 
your  voice  spread  as  you  read  the  word."  "Show  by  your  inflec- 
tion that  mighty  means  very  strong;  emphasize  it,  hardening  your 
lips  as  you  pronoimce  the  first  letter."  "Now  read  the  stanza,  mak- 
ing the  word  large  sound  'large.' "  "^\Tiat  does  brawny  mean?  What 
sort  of  man  would  have  brawny  arms?  Read  the  stanza  so  that  your 
tone  when  you  say  brawny  shall  give  the  idea  of  strength."  So  also 
with  strong  and  iron. 

Pupils  should,  of  course,  be  called  upon  to  combine  several 
of  these  directions  in  one  reading.  There  should  be  a  motive 
for  each  repetition  so  as  to  secure  concentrated  attention. 
Encourage  the  reader  to  visualize  a  group  of  words  at  a  glance 
so  that  he  often  looks  up  from  the  page. 

To  secure  still  further  repetition  the  teacher  may  ask  ques- 
tions based  on  the  text  requiring  the  pupil  to  answer  in  the 
words  of  the  poem.    Thus: 

"Where  does  the  village  smithy  stand?"  "What  sort  of  man 
is  the  smith?"  "Are  there  many  smiths  in  the  village?" 
(Only  one  —  "T/fe  village  smithy  stands.")  "How  do  his  hands 
look?"  "How  strong  are  his  muscles?"  "What  are  as  strong  as 
iron  bands?"  ("The  muscles  of  his  brawny  arms.")  "Pick  out 
the  words  that  rhyme."  "Write  them  on  the  board  as  they  would 
appear  if  the  poem  were  written  in  full."  "Who  will  recite  the  first 
line?"     "The  second?"    "The  first  two?" 

In  this  way  the  brighter  children  may  be  called  upon  to 
recite  until  some  child  is  able  to  go  through  the  stanza.    The 


Ii6  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

class  may  then  be  required  to  read  the  stanza  once  or  twice 
from  the  book.  Finally  the  books  may  be  closed  and  the  class 
may  recite  the  six  lines  in  concert. 

It  should  be  remembered  that  for  the  slower  children  this 
class  work  should  be  supplemented  by  further  study  at  home. 
Constant  review  will  be  necessary  to  secure  permanent  fixation. 
Occasionally  the  pupils  may  be  required  to  write  a  stanza  from 
memory. 

In  studying  prose  selections,  it  may  be  found  helpful  to  have 
pupils  select  the  "proposition"  of  a  long  sentence  as  the  skeleton 
on  which  to  hang  the  rest.  In  a  general  way  the  same  method 
may  be  employed  as  that  just  outUned.  The  point  to  remem- 
ber is  that  the  unit  should  be  as  large  as  the  pupils  can  carry; 
the  repetitions  should  be  frequent;  and  for  each  there  must 
be  a  motive  which  will  insure  close  attention  by  the  class. 

Let  us  suppose  that  we  are  taking  that  part  of  the  second 
paragraph  of  Lincoln's  Gettysburg  Address: 

But  in  a  larger  sense  we  cannot  dedicate,  we  cannot  consecrate, 
we  cannot  hallow  this  ground.  The  brave  men,  living  and  dead, 
who  struggled  here,  have  consecrated  it  far  above  our  power  to  add 
or  to  detract.  The  world  will  very  little  note  nor  long  remember 
what  we  say  here,  but  it  can  never  forget  what  they  did  here. 

The  teacher  should  make  clear,  either  by  direct  telling  or 
by  question  and  answer,  that  the  point  of  the  selection  is  the 
fact  that  this  holy  ground  has  been  made  sacred  not  by  the 
dedication  of  the  cemetery,  but  by  the  deeds  of  the  men  who 
fought.  The  first  sentence  shows  the  speaker's  feeling  that 
those  who  are  assembled  cannot  consecrate  the  ground.  The 
second  sentence  gives  the  honor  where  honor  is  due.  The 
third  combines  the  two  ideas  by  showing  how  fleeting  will  be 
the  record  of  what  is  said  and  how  permanent  the  memory  of 
what  has  been  done.  It  may  be  necessary  to  have  a  very  care- 
ful explanation  of  this  sequence  of  thought,  so  that  the  develop- 


MEMORY  GEMS  117 

ment  of  the  idea  may  become  part  of  the  children's  thinking. 
There  then  should  be  a  study  of  the  words  so  that  the  children 
may  come  to  an  adequate  understanding  of  the  meaning  of 
the  speaker. 

What  new  thought  is  there  in  the  word  "consecrate";  in  the 
word  "hallow"?  Why  would  not  one  of  these  words  have  ex- 
pressed the  idea?  Why  does  Lincoln  speak  of  "the  brave  men, 
Hving  and  dead"?  Why  does  he  in  the  last  sentence  refer  to 
what  the  world  will  "note"  and  not  to  what  it  will  remember? 
What  is  the  difference  between  the  two  ideas?  Why,  in  the  first 
sentence,  does  Lincoln  say  "in  a  larger  sense"?  In  what  smaller 
sense  can  those  who  assembled  have  been  said  to  dedicate  the 
ground?  Have  members  of  the  class  read  the  first  sentence, 
throwing  the  emphasis  upon  the  three  verbs  in  succession.  Have 
another  reading,  throwing  the  emphasis  upon  the  pronouns. 
Have  a  third  reading,  emphasizing  as  is  here  indicated,  "But  in  a 
larger  sense,  we  cannot  dedicate,  we  cannot  consecrate,  we  cannot 
hallow  this  groimd."  Constant  repetition  of  these  readings  will 
fix  the  sentence.  Have  repeated  readings  of  the  second  sentence 
until  pupils  are  able  to  bring  out  the  contrast  between  the  "brave 
men"  on  one  side,  and  "our"  on  the  other.  In  the  same  way, 
repeated  readings  by  pupils  should  contrast  the  "world"  and  "what 
we  say  here"  on  the  one  hand,  with  "they"  and  "did  here"  on 
the  other. 

In  short,  by  analyzing  the  thought,  establishing  the  sequence 
of  ideas,  calling  attention  to  the  value  of  the  words,  and  then 
securing  repetition  through  an  attempt  to  give  proper  oral 
rendering  of  the  thought,  the  teacher  secures  concentrated 
attention  upon  the  form  and  so  fixes  the  selection  in  the 
minds  of  the  pupils. 

Summary.  —  Proper  memorizing  of  a  selection  calls  for  perma- 
nent fixation  and  ready  recall.  To  realize  these  aims,  the  selection 
should  be  adapted  to  the  understanding  of  the  children;  it  should 
appeal  to  their  interests;  it  should  reveal  its  deeper  meaning  as  the 


ii8  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

experience  of  the  children  broadens  and  deepens;  it  should  be  classic 
in  form.  The  presentation  should  be  made  under  conditions  fitting 
the  general  tone  of  the  selection.  The  necessary  repetition  should 
be  made  interesting  by  varied  devices;  it  should  always  result  in 
concentration  upon  the  form.  It  should  respond  to  a  definite  aim 
set  before  the  pupils.  Memorizing  should  be  done  by  wholes,  not 
by  a  synthesis  of  parts.  A  multiple-sense  appeal  should  be  made. 
Frequent  expression  should  fix  the  impression. 


CHAPTER  XII 
SPELLING 

The-  teacher  should  become  acquainted  with  some  clear 
psychological  analysis  of  the  processes  involved  in  spelling. 
A  book  like  Judd's  "Genetic  Psychology,"  or  Huey's  '* Psy- 
chology and  Pedagogy  of  Reading,"  or  Bain's  "Education  as 
a  Science,"  will  be  sufficient  for  the  ordinary  teacher.  In  the 
present  discussion  of  the  subject,  however,  our  aim  is  to  give 
practical  suggestions  for  use  in  the  class-room,  and  not  to  enter 
upon  an  abstract  discussion  of  processes. 

The  need  for  spelling  arises  when  the  children  have  reached 
the  stage  of  original  composition.  It  may  be  well  to  state, 
at  the  beginning,  as  a  fundamental  principle,  that  since  the 
knowledge  of  how  a  word  is  spelled  is  of  value  to  the  child  only 
in  written  composition,  no  word  should  be  taught  for  spelling 
unless  its  meaning  also  is  taught,  and  unless  it  is  a  word  which 
should  form  a  part  of  the  ordinary  working  vocabulary  of  the 
child.  This  excepts  words  studied  in  connection  with  the 
work  in  phonics.  The  problem,  therefore,  of  meaning  and  use, 
as  separated  from  the  problem  of  spelling,  ceases  to  exist. 
Some  words,  it  is  true,  should  be  explained,  the  spelling  of 
which  will  not  be  taught;  but  excepting  phonic  words,  in  no 
case  should  the  spelling  be  taught  unless  the  meaning  is 
thoroughly  understood. 

The  words  for  the  spelling  lesson  should  be  chosen:  — 

I.  From  a  reading  lesson  already  taken  up  in  the  class  room. 
The  words  are  such  as  have  been  selected  by  the  pupils  or  teacher 
as  presenting  difficulties.  Either  they  are  already  a  part  of 
the  vocabulary  of    the  child,  but  present  some  anomaly  in 


I20  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

form,  or  they  are  words  not  yet  a  part  of  the  vocabulary  of  the 
child  but  probably  needed  in  order  to  give  him  freer  expression. 

2.  From  a  story  told  by  the  teacher  to  the  class,  and  intended 
for  oral  or  written  reproduction  by  the  pupils. 

3.  From  the  content  of  other  subjects  of  the  course. 

4.  From  conversation  lessons  intended  as  preparation  for 
the  writing  of  a  composition. 

The  lesson  should  be  given  three  or  four  times  a  week,  and 
should  be  about  twenty  minutes  in  duration.  One  lesson 
each  week  should  be  devoted  entirely  to  drill,  and  at  each  of 
the  others,  the  number  of  words  taught  should  be  limited  to 
four,  five,  six,  or  seven,  depending  upon  the  grade.  Except 
in  rare  cases  of  simple  words,  it  will  be  found  that  more  than 
seven  cannot  successfully  be  taught  as  new  words  in  any  period. 
There  should  be  constant  review  in  each  grade  of  the  spelling 
lists  of  the  preceding  grades. 

As  preparation  for  the  spelling  lesson,  each  word  should  be 
written  on  a  perception  card,  perhaps  twelve  inches  by  three 
or  four,  and  there  should  be  ready  a  frame  large  enough  to 
contain  half  a  dozen  of  these  cards  placed  one  underneath  the 
other.  After  the  actual  presentation,  the  card  should  be 
fastened  on  the  frame,  which  may  be  hung  on  the  wall  in  some 
conspicuous  place,  remaining  there  until  the  next  speUing 
lesson. 

The  proper  use  of  the  perception  card  will  secure  quick  visu- 
alization, and  will  serve  to  impress  the  correct  form  on  the 
mind  of  the  child.  With  the  cards  continually  in  view  before 
the  children,  the  teacher  should  in  the  course  of  other  lessons 
make  frequent  use  of  the  words  appearing  on  the  cards.  By 
a  cursory  glance  toward  the  frame,  she  will  direct  the  attention 
of  the  children  to  the  fact  that  one  of  the  speUing  words  has 
been  used,  and  she  will,  therefore,  make  the  meaning  and  use 
of  the  word  a  familiar  matter  to  the  child  during  the  period 
elapsing  between  the  presentation  and  the  review  of  the  spell- 


SPELLING  121 

ing  words.  Care  should  be  taken  that  the  cards  be  written 
neatly,  and  that  the  word  be  easily  read  from  the  farthest  part 
of  the  room. 

In  the  choice  of  words,  there  should  be  a  graded  progression. 
Difficult  words  should  not  be  selected  in  any  grade  for  the 
spelling  list  until  the  term  has  progressed.  Finally,  care  should 
be  taken  wherever  possible,  to  have  the  words  that  are  taken 
up  in, any  spelling  lesson,  (not  phonic)  center  around  some 
one  topic,  and  therefore  form  a  unit.  The  fundamental 
principles  in  the  teaching  of  spelling  are  the  following: 

First  —  UtiUze  the  different  sensory  avenues  of  appeal. 

Second  —  Have  sufficient  drill  to  fix. 

Third  —  Have  many  devices  for  interest. 

Fourth  —  Have  immediate  appHcation. 

Fifth  —  Do  not  study  words  already  known. 

The  first  of  these  needs  no  long  defense.  Any  of  the  books 
to  which  reference  has  already  been  made,  will  make  clear  the 
need  of  these  modes  of  approach.  (2)  When  spelling  has  been 
perfectly  taught,  the  habit  of  correct  spelling  becomes  a  mar- 
ginal process.  That  is  to  say,  while  the  expressing  self  will 
become  conscious  of  any  error  in  the  form  of  a  word  if  it  has 
once  been  written,  the  focus  of  consciousness  should  not  be 
occupied  during  actual  written  composition  with  the  form  of 
the  word  and  the  correct  mode  of  spelling  it.  It  is,  however, 
a  fundamental  law  that  if  a  process  is  to  be  made  marginal,  it 
must  first  be  focalized.  Therefore,  the  teacher  must  remember 
that,  while  the  approach  to  spelling  will  be  a  matter  of  develop- 
ment, the  teaching  of  spelling  is  primarily  a  matter  of  drill. 
(3)  The  drill,  however,  will  necessarily  develop  a  sameness 
unless  the  teacher  is  perpetually  on  the  lookout  for  varying 
devices.  It  is  impossible  to  give  an  exhaustive  account  of  what 
such  devices  should  be.  Anv  ingenious  teacher  can  create 
more  during  the  course  01  a  lesson,  with  the  inspiration  of  the 
class  before  her,  than  could  be  developed  in  a  half-dozen  pages 


122  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

of  this  text.  The  devices  should  be  such  as  to  fix  attention,  not 
upon  themselves  as  interesting  games,  but  upon  the  form  of 
the  word  which  it  is  the  aim  of  the  teacher  more  firmly  to  fix 
upon  the  mind  of  the  child.  (4)  The  learning  of  spelling  has 
too  frequently  been  taken  to  be  merely  a  matter  of  impression. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  however,  the  spelling  of  a  word  has  not 
been  learned  until  the  child  has  spelled  that  word  correctly 
when  using  it  in  a  context  which  absorbs  the  major  part  of  his 
attention.  The  aim  of  the  teacher,  therefore,  in  the  lesson 
should  be  to  give  adequate  opportunity  to  the  children  to 
apply  their  memorization  of  the  form.  (5)  By  testing  the 
class  the  teacher  may  readily  determine  whether  a  word  needs 
careful  drill.  A  large  part  of  a  spelling  list  will  be  found  to 
consist  of  words  which  the  pupils  spell  by  analogy. 

One  of  the  reasons  why  the  spelling  in  our  schools  has  been 
unsatisfactory  is  that  the  children  do  not  form  proper  aural 
images  of  the  words.  It  is  important  that  the  teacher  develop 
in  the  children  a  habit  of  clear,  distinct,  and  even  exaggerated 
enunciation,  not  only  during  the  spelling  lesson  but  durmg  all 
lessons,  where  it  is  possible  without  detracting  from  expres- 
sion or  distracting  the  attention.  The  teacher  herself  should 
so  enunciate  the  words  that  the  children  shall  really  hear  what 
they  are  called  upon  to  spell. 

Let  us  suppose  that  the  teacher  has  a  number  of  words 
selected  from  some  context  or  subject  previously  taken  up  in 
the  class  and  in  a  general  way  explained.  It  is  her  aim  to 
proceed  with  the  teaching  of  the  spelling  of  these  words.  The 
following  plan  is  suggested:  No  other  spelling  words  should 
be  before  the  class  during  this  lesson.  Perception  card  frames, 
containing  words  previously  taught,  may  remain  hanging  if 
not  in  conspicuous  places;  otherwise,  they  should  be  tempo- 
rarily removed.  The  blackboards  should  be  perfectly  clean. 
The  teacher  may  then  begin  by  talking  of  the  subject  matter 
of  the  lesson  from  which  the  words  have  been  drawn.     When 


SPELLING  123 

she  comes  to  that  part  of  her  review  in  which  the  use  of  the 
first  word  is  made  necessary,  instead  of  uttering  the  word,  she 
takes  the  card,  and  leaving  her  sentence  incomplete,  shows 
the  card  to  the  class.  It  should  not  be  left  in  sight  for  too  long 
a  time.  Practice  will  give  the  teacher  an  idea  of  the  minimum 
time  the  card  should  be  exposed  so  as  to  make  visuaHzation 
possible.  It  has  been  demonstrated  that  the  form  is  better 
remembered  if,  within  limits,  the  time  given  to  the  individual 
to  study  that  form  is  limited.  This  may  be  because  the  mind 
is  compelled  when  the  card  has  been  removed  to  reconstruct 
the  image  of  the  word,  and,  therefore,  make  a  clearer  percept. 

A  boy  is  called  upon  to  tell  the  word.  He  pronounces  it 
clearly,  and  if  he  is  wrong,  the  teacher  gives  the  correct  model 
immediately.  The  word  is  then  repeated  by  a  number  of 
other  children.  A  good  speller  may  then  be  called  upon  to 
spell  the  word,  pronouncing  it  before  and  after  the  spelling; 
or  one  or  more  good  spellers  may  be  sent  to  the  boards  to  write 
the  word.  The  teacher  should  stand  ready,  eraser  in  hand, 
to  rub  from  the  blackboard  any  word  incorrectly  spelled.  The 
entire  word  should  be  erased.  In  fact,  at  any  time  in  this 
exercise  that  a  word  is  incorrectly  spelled,  or  any  other 
error  is  made,  the  entire  word  should  be  erased,  the  card  shown 
again  to  the  pupil,  this  time  for  a  longer  period,  and  the 
pupil  should  be  called  upon  once  more  to  write  the  word. 
Except  in  the  case  of  an  abnormally  poor  speller,  this  should 
be  kept  up  until  he  writes  the  word  correctly.  A  number  of 
pupils  may  then  be  called  upon  to  spell  the  word  orally,  some- 
times looking  at  the  board,  sometimes  with  their  eyes  shut, 
sometimes  with  their  backs  turned  to  the  blackboard. 

The  teacher  may  then  repeat  the  word  slowly  and  distinctly, 
pausing  significantly  for  the  purpose  of  showing  the  class  how 
the  word  is  divided  into  syllables.  It  must  be  remembered 
that  part  of  the  regular  preparation  of  the  teacher  for  this 
lesson  should  be  reference  to  the  dictionary  so  as  to  ascertain 


124  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

the  correct  syllabication  of  the  word.  Pupils  may  then  be 
called  upon  to  pronounce  the  word  in  imitation  of  the  teacher, 
pausing  sUghtly  so  as  to  indicate  the  syllables.  Others  may 
be  called  to  the  blackboard  to  divide  the  words  into  syllables 
by  placing  vertical  lines  between  them.  Here  the  teacher 
should  stand  close  to  the  blackboard  so  as  to  be  able  im- 
mediately to  erase  the  entire  word  if  an  error  is  made  in  the 
division.  Care  should  be  taken  that  somewhere  on  the  black- 
board should  appear  the  word  in  an  undivided  form.  It  is 
also  suggested  that  colored  chalk  be  used  to  indicate  the 
Hues  of  division,  and,  furthermore,  that  at  no  time  should  the 
separation  be  indicated  by  raising  the  chalk  from  the  board 
and  indicating  the  different  syllables  by  writing  them  as  sepa- 
rate parts. 

The  next  step  should  be  quick  oral  drill  on  the  spelling  of 
the  words  by  the  cumulative-syllabic  method.  Once  more  it 
may  be  remarked  that  it  is  not  our  purpose  to  enter  into  a  dis- 
cussion of  why  this  method  has  been  considered  the  best. 
Statistics  show  conclusively  that  where  it  has  been  employed, 
the  improvement  in  spelling  percentages  attained  by  a  class 
is  almost  marvelous.     The  spelling  is  of  this  form: 

Remember,  re,  r-e;  mem,  m-e-m;  remem;  ber,  b-e-r;  re- 
member. Care  should  be  taken  that  there  be  no  exaggeration 
of  vowel  values,  such,  for  example,  as  may  be  made  when 
pupils  pronounce  a  final  sufhx,  a-b-l-e,  with  the  long  soimd  of  a. 
While  one  boy  is  spelling,  the  rest  of  the  class  may  be  permitted 
to  spell  with  him  but  in  a  low  tone.  When  this  step  takes  place, 
the  word  has  been  erased  from  the  blackboard,  or  the  boy  who 
spells  stands  with  his  back  to  the  board,  while  those  in  their 
seats  spell  with  closed  eyes.  The  entire  class  may  then  be  called 
upon  to  write  the  word  in  the  air,  giving  the  name  of  each  letter 
as  they  write  it;  or  they  may  write  the  words  on  their  desks 
without  pencils.  Further  drill  may  be  secured  by  sending 
children  to  the  board  one  after  the  other,  to  write  the  word 


•aiSE'.- 


SPELLING  125 

and  to  syllabicate  it.  Finally,  the  attention  of  the  children 
should  be  drawn  to  the  word  as  a  unit  written  on  the  blackboard 
unseparated,  and  on  the  perception  card.  It  will  be  noted  that 
at  no  time  is  the  word  on  the  perception  card  syllabicated. 

The  next  step  may  be  to  develop  the  meaning  of  the  word. 
Ask  the  class  where  they  have  met  it  before.  Who  remembers 
in  what  lesson  it  was?  In  what  part  of  the  story  did  it  come? 
Does  any  one  know  the  sentence  in  the  reading  book  from 
which  this  word  is  taken?  Who  can  give  the  sentence,  or  part 
of  it?  The  actual  teaching  of  the  meaning  will  vary,  depending 
upon  the  grade.  Some  of  the  methods  are  here  suggested. 
From  this  sentence,  what  do  you  guess  is  the  meaning  of  this 
word?  Have  you  ever  seen  a  word  like  this?  Do  you  know 
some  word  which  means  the  same  as  this?  Do  you  know  some 
other  word  or  words  which  we  could  have  used  in  the  sentence 
instead  of  this  word?  Give  some  word  which  means  the 
opposite  of  this.  In  the  higher  grades  where  the  children  have 
an  approximate  understanding  of  the  meaning  but  cannot  give 
the  definition  briefly,  they  may  be  sent  to  the  dictionary. 
Abstract  words  should  not  be  explained  at  great  length,  but 
should  be  associated  with  something  concrete.  Where  possi- 
ble, descriptive  words  should  be  explained  by  being  dramatized. 
The  teacher  may  give  the  children  two  or  three  sentences 
containing  the  word,  and  from  the  comparison  of  these  sen- 
tences, the  children  may  approximate  or  guess  the  meaning  of 
the  word.  They  may  then  be  allowed  to  use  the  word  in 
sentences.  At  times  in  the  lower  grades,  it  has  been  found  valu- 
able to  prepare  a  large  cardboard  sheet  on  which  appear  type 
sentences  showing  the  correct  use  of  the  word  in  a  sentence. 
Children,  during  the  study  period,  copy  these  sentences  in 
their  book,  and  in  this  way  memorize,  or  at  all  events,  become 
famihar  with  good  examples  of  the  correct  use  of  the  words 
they  are  learning.  It  should  be  remembered,  however,  that 
this  last  device  is  not  a  substitute  for  the  teaching  of  the  mean- 


126  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

ing  of  the  words.  It  is  merely  supplying  one  model  after  the 
children  have  formed  their  own  sentences. 

The  return  may  now  be  made  to  the  spelling  of  the  word. 
First,  it  should  be  spelled  orally  by  the  children  and  then 
written  on  the  blackboard.  Care  should  be  taken  to  have 
different  children  go  to  the  blackboard  so  that,  as  far  as  possible, 
every  one  will  have  an  opportunity  to  give  some  form  of  motor 
expression  during  the  spelling  lesson.  If  the  word  presents 
any  particular  difficulty,  attention  should  be  called  to  the 
difficult  part,  and  wherever  possible,  a  device  should  be  em- 
ployed for  the  fixing  of  the  correct  form.  Finally,  everything 
should  be  erased  from  the  board  and  the  children  allowed  to 
take  their  last  quick  look  at  the  perception  card.  Ask  the 
children  to  close  their  eyes,  and  in  rapid  succession  ask  ques- 
tions Hke  the  following:  What  is  the  third  letter  from  the 
last?  Name  the  middle  letter.  What  is  the  second  letter  of 
the  word?  How  many  e's  are  there  in  the  word?  —  etc.  This 
method  is  followed  with  every  word.  Then,  in  rapid  succession, 
each  perception  card  is  shown  once  more  to  the  class. 

Papers  have  already  been  distributed,  and  the  children  are 
then  told  to  write  out  the  words  of  the  lesson  from  memory. 
There  should  be  no  syllabic  spelling  at  this  point  on  the  papers 
or  in  any  blackboard  or  note-book  work  which  comes  after  this 
step.  Syllabication  is  a  part  of  presentation,  and  not  a  part  of 
expression.  While  the  children  are  writing,  the  teacher  should 
walk  around  the  room  and  make  note  of  the  children  who  spell 
the  first,  second,  and  third  word,  etc.,  correctly.  Wherever 
possible,  she  should  select  poor  spellers  and  carefully  see  to  it 
that  they  are  later  called  upon  to  write  on  the  board  words 
which  they  have  already  spelled  correctly  on  their  papers. 
The  aim  should  be  t©  exercise  the  greatest  care  that  no  child  be 
called  upon  to  write  a  word  on  the  blackboard  unless  he  has 
already  spelled  the  word  correctly  at  his  seat.  As  has  already 
been  suggested,  the  word  should  be  written  on  the  blackboard 


SPELLING  127 

as  a  whole.  The  children  compare  their  own  spelling  with 
the  word  on  the  board.  Frequently,  the  papers  may  be  inter- 
changed. 

All  corrections  should  be  immediate.  That  is  to  say,  as  soon 
as  the  word  has  been  written  on  the  board,  the  children  compare, 
and  those  who  missed  the  word  stand.  The  teacher  should  take 
note  of  the  number  of  children  who  missed  and  this  number 
should  be  written  by  the  teacher  on  her  own  Hst,  opposite  the 
word.  It  will  then  serve  as  a  guide,  indicating  whether  the 
word  needs  special  class  drill  or  merely  drill  with  individual 
children.  Those  who  spelled  the  word  incorrectly  should  draw 
a  Hne  completely  through  the  word,  and  place  the  correct  form 
to  the  right  of  the  word  or  above  the  word  as  well  as  on  the  other 
side  of  the  paper.  In  this  way,  we  can  get  constant  writing  of 
the  correct  form.  If  time  permits,  children  should  be  required 
to  write  the  misspelled  word  on  the  other  side  of  the  paper  cor- 
rectly three  or  even  five  times.  The  correction  proceeds  in 
this  manner  to  the  end  of  the  lesson.  Then  each  child  writes 
correctly  in  his  "misspelled- word  book,"  those  words  which 
were  wrong  in  his  lesson.  The  perception  cards  should  then  be 
fixed  on  the  perception  card-frame,  and  the  words  left  in  full 
view  of  the  class. 

Some  Devices  and  Suggestions 

1.  Frequently,  it  will  be  found  of  value  to  test  a  class  on  the 
words  already  selected  by  the  teacher  from  an  earHer  content, 
the  testing  to  take  place  before  any  real  teaching  is  done.  It 
will  be  found  that  many  of  these  words  are  already  known  by 
the  class,  and  therefore  the  time  for  developing  and  impressing 
knowledge  of  the  form  may  be  very  much  curtailed. 

2.  Allow  to  remain  on  the  blackboard  a  hst  of  the  words 
which  have  already  been  studied.  Have  each  word  distinctly 
pronounced  by  as  many  pupils  as  possible.  Direct  the  attention 
of  the  class  to  the  board,  quickly  erase  a  word,  call  upon  one 


128  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

pupil  to  spell  it,  another  to  use  it  in  a  sentence,  and  a  third  to 
pass  to  the  board  and  rewrite  the  word,  beginning  a  new  column. 
Then  have  a  pupil  do  this  with  the  other  words,  the  pupil  calling 
upon  his  classmates  for  the  word.  In  this  way,  pass  through 
the  list,  calling  for  pronunciation,  spelling,  sentences,  and  re- 
writing, and  when  the  lesson  is  completed,  the  first  Ust  will  have 
been  erased  and  a  dupHcate  will  have  taken  its  place. 

3.  In  dictating  the  words  for  a  review  spelling  lesson,  instead 
of  giving  the  words  separately,  give  a  sentence  containing  the 
word,  and  have  the  children  select  from  the  sentence  the  word 
that  they  have  most  recently  learned  to  spell.  They  write  on 
the  paper  only  the  spelling  word. 

4.  SpelUng  matches  never  lose  their  interest  for  a  class. 

5.  Let  the  children  at  home  make  up  lists  of  what  in  their 
estimation  are  the  ten  most  difficult  words  taken  up  so  far  in 
the  term  work.  Let  five  or  six  children  dictate  their  lists  to  the 
class  for  oral  spelHng;  the  winner  is  the  boy  who  makes  up  a  list 
which  catches  the  greatest  mmiber  of  his  classmates. 

6.  Instead  of  having  the  same  word  respelt  time  and  time 
again  by  the  class,  dictate  derivatives.  Later  in  the  course, 
the  children  may  be  called  upon  to  supply  these  derivatives 
themselves. 

7.  Frequently,  in  the  dictation  of  words,  direct  the  class  to 
write  the  words  not  in  a  column,  but  horizontally,  one  after 
the  other.  When,  owing  to  the  fact  that  the  end  of  the  line  has 
been  reached,  it  is  necessary  to  separate  the  word,  the  children 
are  given  a  practical  way  of  applying  their  knowledge  of  the 
syllabication  of  the  word.  If  the  separation  of  the  word  is 
incorrect,  the  word  is  counted  wrong. 

8.  Misspelling  a  word  repeatedly  tends  to  develop  the  habit 
of  misspelling,  and  fixes  the  incorrect  form  in  the  mind  of  the 
child.  It  will,  therefore,  be  found  advisable  in  written  exercises 
to  have  the  pupils  show  their  conscious  inability  to  spell  a  word 
correctly  by  drawing  a  dash  where  the  word  should  appear. 


SPELLING  129 

Children  should  be  trained  not  to  guess  at  the  spelling  of  a 
word. 

9.  It  should  be  remembered  that  in  practical  life  pupils  are 
rarely  called  upon  to  spell  orally.  Oral  spelling,  which  is  simply 
describing  a  word  by  naming  its  letters  in  order,  is  a  means  to  an 
end,  and  should  never  be  used  as  the  sole  method  of  teaching 
spelling.  The  real  test  in  spelling  is  writing  the  word  correctly 
in  a  language  exercise,  a  dictation  exercise,  a  business  letter,  or 
the  like.  The  proper  function  of  oral  spelling  is  to  describe 
word  forms  already  in  the  mind,  not  to  occasion  them.  It  has 
well  been  said  that  by  describing  an  object  an  artist  never 
yet  learned  to  draw  it.  That  artist,  however,  who  can  draw  an 
object  correctly  from  memory  can  certainly  name  its  parts  in 
their  proper  order.  Moreover,  every  attempt  he  makes  to 
describe  the  object  accurately  from  memory  helps  him  to  see 
it  better.  So  it  is  with  words  in  learning  to  spell.  If  the  pupil 
can  construct  the  word  in  his  mind,  can  visualize  it,  and  can 
imagine  it  correctly,  he  can  describe  it.  If  he  cannot  visualize 
it,  he  cannot  describe  it.  Every  failure  he  makes  in  describing 
these  in  oral  spelling,  should  stimulate  him  to  examine  more 
carefully  the  form  of  the  word,  and  fix  the  image. 

10.  Let  the  most  frequent  form  of  dictated  spelling  lesson 
be  that  in  which  the  words  are  given  in  sentences,  brief,  and 
with  a  worthy  content,  the  entire  sentence  being  written  by  the 
children. 

11.  Except  in  regular  formal  review  tests,  the  teacher  should 
not  correct  the  work  of  the  children.  Correction  may  be  made 
a  part  of  the  drill  intended  to  fix  the  correct  form. 

Summary.  —  The  spelling  of  words  is  of  value  only  in  written 
composition.  Hence  the  meaning  of  all  words  must  be  taught  in  con- 
nection with  the  spelling.  Words  should  be  selected  from  (i)  a  read- 
ing lesson  already  taken  up  in  the  classroom;  (2)  a  story  intended 
for  reproduction  by  the  pupils;  (3)  from  the  subject  matter  of  the 
grades;    (4)  from  conversation  lessons  in  preparation  for  composi- 


I30  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

tion.  The  principles  underlying  the  method  are:  (i)  a  multiple  sense- 
appeal  should  be  used;  (2)  drill  is  necessary  to  fixation;  (3)  device 
should  capture  the  interest;  (4)  application  should  be  immediate. 
Effective  aids  in  the  teaching  of  speUing  are:  (i)  correct  articula- 
tion and  pronunciation;  (2)  clear  visualization  of  the  after  percept; 
(3)  oral  speUing  by  the  cumulative  syllabic  method.  Written  spell- 
ing may  take  these  forms:  (i)  writing  words  in  columns;  (2)  writ- 
ing words  in  succession  along  the  line,  thus  calling  for  hyphenation; 
(3)  writing  words  in  sentences  or  paragraphs  dictated  by  the  teacher. 
Corrections  should  be  immediate  and  should  be  followed  by  the  cor- 
rect writing  of  the  misspelled  words  a  number  of  times. 


CHAPTER  XIII 
DICTATION 

Where  it  is  considered  desirable  to  develop  a  habit  of  techni- 
cal or  formal  accuracy  which  shall  function  in  the  margin  of 
consciousness  while  the  center  of  attention  is  directed  more  to 
content  than  to  form,  it  is  necessary  at  some  point  in  the  in- 
struction to  focalize  upon  the  technique.  Desire  to  express  the 
thought  supplies  a  correct  motivation  to  the  child.  It  is  a 
common  complaint  with  teachers  that  children  become  more 
and  more  inaccurate  in  spelling,  punctuation,  sentence  structure, 
paragraphing,  etc.,  as  they  become  more  interested  in  the 
thought  to  which  they  are  attempting  to  give  expression.  In 
many  cases,  instruction  in  this  formal  or  technical  aspect  is 
limited  to  the  period  of  correction  which  follows  in  the  class  upon 
the  writing  of  the  composition.  That  this  method  of  procedure 
cannot  be  based  upon  the  right  principles,  and  that  it  is  not 
productive  of  adequate  return  for  the  effort  expended  by  the 
teacher,  is  proved  by  the  fact  that  in  the  seventh  and  eighth 
years  of  the  course,  children  make  mistakes  which  were  made 
in  the  fourth  and  fifth,  and  the  correction  of  which  has  been 
made  the  subject  of  almost  countless  lessons  in  the  interval. 

A  right  understanding  of  the  meaning  and  the  conduct  of  a 
dictation  lesson  should  effect  a  reform.  The  object  of  the 
dictation  lesson  is,  wherever  possible,  to  develop  the  reason  for  a 
certain  form  or  a  particular  use  in  punctuation;  by  repeated 
drill  to  render  automatic  the  habit  of  the  correct  use  of  this 
form,  or  the  right  application  of  this  mark  in  punctuation;  and 
finally,  to  afford  opportunity  for  the  immediate  application  in 


132  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

the  writing  of  some  content,  interesting  to  the  child,  of  this 
element  of  technique. 

Every  lesson  in  dictation  should  be  an  exercise  in  spelling 
and  should  present  an  illustration  of  some  principle  in  sentence 
or  paragraph  form,  in  capitalization,  or  in  punctuation.  Many 
teachers  have  become  impressed  by  the  idea  that  a  dictation 
lesson  may  be  based  upon  the  thought  of  the  selection  to  be 
dictated  to  the  class.  There  is  here  a  confusion  as  to  the  real 
aim.  If  the  purpose  is  to  have  the  child  become  acquainted 
with  a  great  idea  expressed  in  classic  form,  it  should  be  under- 
stood that  this  impression  cannot  be  vivid  or  lasting  if  the  only 
presentation  of  it  is  through  the  mere  dictation  exercise.  Such 
selections  should  be  developed  with  the  class  in  somewhat  the 
same  fashion  as  a  "memory  gem"  is  taken  up.  And  while  it  is 
possible  that  the  writing  of  the  selection  will  serve  to  fix  its 
language  more  firmly  in  the  mind,  and  while,  in  addition,  it  may 
be  true  that  a  dictation  by  the  teacher  is  better  than  a  mere 
copy  by  the  children,  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  such  a  dictation 
does  not  properly  belong  to  the  kind  of  exercise  we  are  here 
attempting  to  explain.  In  this  particular  case,  dictation  is 
merely  a  method  of  securing  motor  expression  that  the  memory 
may  be  more  firm  and  retentive. 

If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  aim  is  to  fix  a  certain  kind  of 
expression  or  to  show  an  application  of  some  principle  in 
punctuation,  care  should  be  taken  that  the  content  of  the  se- 
lection to  be  dictated  be  not  so  interesting  that  attention 
must  perforce  be  divided  between  an  understanding  of  the 
meaning  and  a  proper  appreciation  of  the  formal  element.  It 
is  not  to  be  inferred  from  this  that  the  paragraphs  and  sen- 
tences are  to  be  concerned  with  a  subject  matter  that  cannot 
possibly  present  any  interest  to  the  child,  on  the  theory  that 
if  uninteresting  subject  matter  be  afforded,  there  will  be  maxi- 
mum attention  to  the  formal  aspect.  Even  in  pure  drill  work, 
examples  should  have  a  content  value.    The  danger  is  lest  the 


DICTATION  133 

content  be  so  interesting  that  the  central  aim  of  the  lesson  be 
lost  sight  of. 

In  a  dictation  lesson,  it  will  be  perfectly  proper  to  have 
sentences  and  paragraphs  deaUng  with  topics  selected  from  the 
history,  the  geography,  or  other  subjects  of  the  grade.  For 
example,  it  may  be  that  the  aim  of  the  lesson  is  the  teaching  of 
the  unbroken  quotation.  The  motive  for  the  lesson  may  be  the 
fact  that  the  children  are  studying  the  reproduction  of  a  story. 
In  the  course  of  their  writing,  it  will  be  necessary  to  reproduce 
in  written  form  a  dialogue.  The  dictation  lesson  should  come 
between  the  time  at  which  the  need  for  the  use  of  the  quotation 
marks  is  felt  and  the  period  during  which  it  will  be  necessary 
for  the  children  to  make  use  of  the  quotation  marks  in  giving 
their  written  version  of  the  story.  Now,  in  the  formal  lesson, 
it  will  be  proper  for  the  teacher  to  use  as  a  content  for  her 
illustrations  and  for  her  final  application,  a  conversation  based 
directly  upon,  even  drawn  from,  the  dialogue  of  the  actual 
characters  in  the  story  learned  by  the  children. 

In  teaching  the  use  of  the  comma  for  words  in  series,  the 
teacher  may  employ  sentences  containing  facts  from  the  geogra- 
phy lesson,  and  so  on.  The  teacher  will  readily  see  other 
impUcations  of  this  suggestion. 

All  the  sentences  used  for  the  inductive  development  of  the 
principle  to  be  taught,  as  well  as  the  final  selection  given  for  the 
step  of  application,  should  be  carefully  chosen.  A  long  para- 
graph containing  but  one  Uttle  illustration  of  the  point  at  issue, 
for  examplfe,  would  not  be  a  good  selection.  On  the  other  hand, 
one  in  which  the  English  is  completely  twisted  in  order  that  the 
sentence  may  afford  many  illustrations  of  the  point  in  question, 
would  be  equally  bad. 

The  actual  dictation  of  the  selection  to  the  children,  should 
be  a  test  of  what  has  previously  been  taught.  Occasionally, 
the  entire  period  may  be  devoted  to  the  dictation  of  altogether 
new  matter,  the  aim  being  to  test  the  power  of  the  children,  and 


134  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

to  afford  an  opportunity  for  review.  The  point  to  be  taught  in 
a  dictation  lesson  should  be  learned  by  the  children  as  a  matter 
of  observation.  There  are  several  possible  methods  of  approach. 
In  all  classes,  the  formal  element  should  be  one  which  the  chil- 
dren will  find  it  necessary  to  employ  in  written  work,  one  for 
which  the  need  has  already  arisen.  In  other  words,  a  dictation 
lesson  never  stands  apart  from  the  regular  written  English  work 
of  the  grade.  As  a  corollary  of  this,  it  may  very  easily  happen 
that  in  no  two  classes  of  the  same  grade  will  the  sequence  of 
topics  be  the  same.  In  each  class,  those  points  will  be  taken 
up  for  which  the  need  arises  in  the  course  of  the  regular  written 
work.  At  the  end  of  the  term,  however,  it  is  reasonable  to 
suppose  that  every  class  of  the  grade  will  have  covered  the  same 
ground. 

The  teacher  may  direct  the  children  to  a  certain  mode  of 
punctuation  used  in  some  paragraph  in  the  reading  book  or 
some  part  of  the  history  or  geography  text  book.  Here  the 
printed  form  is  in  the  hands  of  each  child,  and  the  rule  for 
punctuation,  or  for  capitalization,  may  be  stated  by  the  child 
as  a  result  of  observation.  He  notices  a  certain  sameness  in 
the  appearance  of  the  passage  in  the  book.  Upon  this  point,  the 
teacher  attempts  to  focus  his  attention.  The  nature  of  the 
form,  the  probable  reason  of  its  use,  and  so  on,  are  carefully 
developed.  Then  other  sentences  may  be  given  to  the  children 
with  the  injunction  that  they  apply  this  principle  of  punctuation. 
Here  the  drill  may  take  one  of  three  forms:  The  children  may 
be  given  sheets  of  paper  on  which  are  sentences  alreaidy  punctu- 
ated. They  may  be  called  upon  to  describe  the  punctuation, 
to  explain  its  use,  if  the  sentences  are  properly  punctuated,  and 
to  correct  the  punctuation  if  they  find  any  errors.  Secondly, 
they  may  be  given  a  paper  containing  a  series  of  selections 
either  incorrectly  punctuated  or  not  punctuated  at  all.  They 
may  be  called  upon  to  supply  the  correct  punctuation,  and  to 
give  a  reason  for  what  they  have  done.    Thirdly,  they  may  be 


DICTATION  135 

asked  to  form  a  sentence  of  such  a  type  that  it  will  illustrate 
the  point  to  be  taught.  They  may  be  requested  to  write  out 
this  sentence,  giving  the  correct  punctuation. 

The  teacher  may  have  prepared  on  large  sheets  of  cardboard 
or  heavy  oak-tag,  sentences  showing  the  principle  about  to  be 
taught.  The  punctuation  mark  itself  may  be  shown  in  differ- 
ently colored  chalk.  Once  more  the  pupils  are  led  to  observe, 
to  generalize,  and  to  apply. 

The  teacher  may  recall  the  particular  kind  of  construction 
which  calls  for  the  new  lesson  in  dictation,  and  she  may,  simply 
by  a  process  of  developing  through  questions  and  answers,  bring 
out  the  principle  which  it  is  her  aim  to  teach. 

When  it  is  felt  that  the  observation  has  been  sufficiently 
concentrated,  that  there  has  been  a  sufficient  amount  of  practical 
application  in  type  sentences,  the  teacher  may  lead  the  children 
to  formulate  (in  the  shape  of  a  general  principle)  the  facts  that 
they  have  observed.  The  wording  should  be  clear,  direct,  and 
simple.  The  rule  should  be  brief.  The  final  step  is  where  the 
teacher  dictates  a  somewhat  longer  selection  without  emphasiz- 
ing the  part  at  which  the  difficulty  occurs,  thus  testing  the  class 
on  its  retention  of  what  has  just  been  taught. 

If  there  are  many  errors  in  the  results,  it  will  be  quite  fair 
to  infer  that  the  presentation  has  not  been  thorough.  It  may 
reasonably  be  expected  that  more  than  one-half  of  the  class 
will  produce  a  dictation  exercise  without  any  mistakes  in  it  at 
all.  This  is  given  on  the  assumption  that  every  word  in  the 
selection  has  been  carefully  considered  with  a  view  to  ascertain- 
ing whether  it  calls  for  a  knowledge  of  spelling  that  the  children 
may  fairly  be  expected  to  possess. 

In  the  actual  dictation,  the  teacher  should  first  read  the  entire 
selection  through,  enunciating  clearly,  giving  the  proper  length 
of  time  to  the  pauses,  and  so  phrasing  the  reading  that  she  will 
pause  at  a  break  in  the  sense.  A  few  questions  may  then  be 
asked  of  the  class  with  a  view  to  ascertaining  whether  the  chil- 


136  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

dren  understand  what  the  central  thought  of  the  selection  is. 
During  this  time,  the  children  should  sit  without  pencils  in  hand, 
and  with  attention  directed  entirely  upon  the  content  of  what 
the  teacher  is  dictating.  Then  the  actual  dictation,  and  writing 
by  the  children  may  begin.  At  no  time  should  the  teacher  repeat 
in  dictating. 

The  speed  of  dictation  should  be  such  as  to  make  the  writing 
by  the  children  approximate  in  rapidity  that  which  they  would 
do  were  they  producing  an  original  composition.  In  the  lower 
grades,  care  should  be  taken  that  the  children  are  not  called 
upon  to  carry  too  many  words  in  their  minds.  On  the  other 
hand,  however,  as  the  work  proceeds  through  the  grades,  the 
number  of  words  given  as  a  single  phrase  by  the  teacher,  should 
be  steadily  increased,  until  in  the  last  year,  the  children  should 
be  able  to  take  in  a  complete  sentence  of  average  length  as  a 
unit.  In  every  case,  however,  the  phrases  and  pauses  as  given 
by  the  teacher  should  be  determined  primarily  by  the  meaning 
of  the  selection. 

When  the  passage  has  been  finished  by  the  teacher,  one  of  two 
courses  may  be  followed.  She  may  either  read  the  selection 
through  once  more,  or  she  may  ask  the  children  to  read  over  what 
they  have  written.  During  this  time,  they  should  be  allowed  to 
make  any  corrections  which  they  think  necessary;  and  in  the  final 
estimating  of  their  work,  mistakes  corrected  by  the  children  be- 
fore the  class  correction  takes  place,  should  not  be  counted  against 
them.  In  this  way  they  may  be  taught  to  correct  independently 
of  the  teacher's  help,  and  so  to  form  a  habit  that  will  be  of 
inestimable  value  to  them  in  later  life.  It  may  be  objected, 
however,  that  children  may  then  fall  into  a  habit  of  careless 
punctuation,  spelling,  and  arrangement  in  their  first  writing,  de- 
pending upon  the  second  reading  for  revision  and  correction.  To 
avoid  this,  the  teacher  may  set  before  the  class  as  a  general  aim 
the  ideal  of  perfect  work;  that  is,  the  production  of  a  paper 
which  will  have  a  minimum  number  of  erasures  and  corrections. 


DICTATION  137 

The  correction  of  the  work  may  take  any  one  of  several  forms. 
Children  may  correct  their  own  work,  or  they  may  exchange 
papers  and  correct  that  of  their  classmates.  If  the  selection 
dictated  by  the  teacher  was  taken  from  a  reading  or  other  text 
book,  the  children  should  be  requested  to  take  out  the  book  and 
to  compare  their  work  with  the  printed  page.  In  other  cases, 
mimeographed  sheets,  showing  the  correct  form,  and  previously 
prepared  by  the  teacher,  may  be  distributed,  one  to  each  member 
of  the  class.  Where  it  is  not  possible  to  do  this,  the  entire 
selection  should  previously  have  been  written  out  by  the  teacher 
on  the  blackboard  and  kept  covered  during  the  day  and  through- 
out the  dictation  lesson  by  sheets  of  paper  to  be  removed  when 
this  point  in  the  lesson  is  reached. 

As  the  children  look  over  the  papers  and  compare  what  they 
or  their  classmates  have  written,  with  the  correct  form,  the 
teacher  should  pass  freely  around  the  room,  and  should  draw 
the  attention  of  the  entire  class  to  the  particular  points  of  the 
lesson.  This  part  of  the  work  may  be  made  to  afford  a  review 
of  the  principles  developed  during  the  period  of  presentation. 

All  errors  should  be  indicated  in  lead  pencil  or  in  differently 
colored  ink,  and  the  correct  form  should  immediately  be  inserted. 
If  there  has  been  an  error  in  spelling,  the  children  should  write 
the  word  correctly,  underneath  the  dictation  exercise.  Finally, 
a  simimary  of  the  number  and  the  kind  of  errors  should  be  made 
by  each  child.  Those  having  perfect  papers  should  be  asked 
to  stand,  and  the  very  best  papers  in  point  of  appearance  should 
be  kept  on  exhibition  on  the  bulletin  board  until  the  next  dicta- 
tion lesson. 

Rarely,  if  ever,  should  there  be  a  second  dictation  or  a 
rewriting  of  the  dictation  exercise.  It  is  difficult  to  conceive 
a  condition  in  which  the  children  will  be  supphed  with  a 
proper  motive  for  such  an  exercise.  If  the  results  of  the  lesson 
show  that  the  point  has  not  been  completely  grasped  by  the 
class,  the  entire  subject  should  be  gone  over  at  the  next 


138  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

dictation  lesson,  and  should  be  dwelt  upon  until  it  has  been 
properly  fixed. 

As  an  example  of  how  such  a  lesson  should  be  conducted,  let 
us  take  the  teaching  of  the  use  of  the  apostrophe  as  a  mark  of 
possession.  It  is  of  course  to  be  assumed  that  the  need  for  this 
instruction  has  been  made  clear  because  of  errors  in  the  children's 
work  pointed  out  by  the  teacher. 

The  first  work  of  the  teacher  should  be  to  make  clear  what  is 
meant  by  the  idea  of  possession,  and  to  develop  this  without 
introducing  the  complicating  element  of  the  use  of  the  apostro- 
phe. This  can  be  done  by  making  the  first  part  of  the  work 
center  around  the  use  of  the  possessive  pronouns. 

The  last  of  the  pronouns  to  be  taught  should  be  "its," 
and  there  should  be  careful  drill  upon  the  use  of  this  particular 
form  before  the  study  of  the  apostrophe  is  taken  up.  The 
usual  procedure  of  the  teacher  is  to  study  the  use  of  the 
apostrophe  and  then  to  introduce  the  pronouns  with  the  state- 
ment that  "these  are  the  words  that  can  be  made  to  show 
possession  without  the  use  of  the  apostrophe."  The  relation 
of  its  to  the  nominative  form,  it,  is  so  much  Hke  that  of  the 
relation  between  the  singular  possessive  of  any  noun  and  its 
nominative  form,  that  the  children,  following  as  usually  the 
Hne  of  least  resistance,  carry  over  the  rule  for  the  use  of  the 
possessive  apostrophe  to  the  pronoun  form.  As  a  result  there 
grows  up  that  most  common  of  all  errors  in  the  writing  of 
possessive  forms.  If  the  writing  of  the  form  its  as  a  possessive 
form  is  drilled  upon  before  the  use  of  the  apostrophe  is  taught, 
there  will  be  focalization  upon  this  correct  form  and  the  building 
up  of  associations  between  it  and  such  forms  as  his,  hers,  yours, 
so  that  the  writing  of  this  word  will  become  a  purely  formal 
thing.  Later  the  statement  may  be  made  by  the  teacher  that 
most  of  the  words  in  the  English  language  cannot  be  made  to 
show  the  fact  of  possession  by  a  complete  change  of  the  word 
such  as  we  have  in  the  change  of  I  to  my,  and  of  he  to  his,  etc. 


DICTATION  139 

We  must  use  a  mark,  called  the  apostrophe.  The  rule  for  its 
use  is:  First  think  of  the  name  of  the  person  or  the  animal  that 
actually  is  the  owner  or  the  possessor.  Write  the  name  of  this 
person  or  animal.  Then  remember  that  the  sign  of  possession 
or  ownership  is  the  apostrophe  followed  by  s.  If,  however,  the 
5  is  not  sounded,  we  do  not  write  it.  Illustrations  may  then  be 
given.  If  we  wish  to  speak  of  a  boy  as  owning  a  hat,  we  first 
write  the  word  boy  because  that  is  the  name  of  the  person. 
Then  we  remember  that  the  sign  is  the  apostrophe  and  s.  We 
think  for  a  moment  whether  the  s  is  sounded.  We  pronounce 
the  word  to  ourselves,  and  finding  that  the  5  is  sounded,  we 
write  b-o-y's.  The  teacher  will  find  that  the  application  of  this 
rule  is  extremely  simple  and  makes  unnecessary  the  teaching  of 
long  lists  of  exceptions. 

It  will  be  noted  that  no  attempt  has  been  made  here  to  develop 
the  rule.  It  has  been  suggested  that  the  rule  for  the  use  of  the 
apostrophe  could  be  developed  inductively  on  the  basis  of  a 
great  number  of  illustrations  given  by  the  teacher  and  written 
on  the  blackboard.  Is  not  this  an  unnecessary  expenditure  of 
time?  The  better  method  would  be  to  write  a  number  of 
characteristic  examples  on  the  board,  to  give  the  rule  and  to 
have  the  class  see  the  appHcation  of  the  rule  in  every  instance 
which  the  teacher  has  presented.  At  the  beginning  it  will  be 
found  valuable  to  have  the  children  write  the  s  which  follows 
the  apostrophe,  separate  from  the  word  itself.  That  is  to  say, 
the  child  should  be  compelled  to  lift  pen  or  pencil  from  the  paper 
when  he  has  written  the  name  of  the  owner  or  possessor.  This 
physical  act  of  raising  the  pencil  is  the  outward  sign  of  that 
pause  in  the  thinking  which  is  called  for  by  the  inteUigent 
application  of  the  rule.  Needless  to  say,  after  a  term  or  more  of 
this  formal  drill  the  process  of  using  the  apostrophe  will  have 
become  so  completely  automatic  that  the  children  will  be  able 
to  write  the  entire  word  as  a  unit,  and,  when  necessary,  will 
insert  the  apostrophe. 


I40  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

Summary. — In  written  and  in  oral  English,  attention  is  concen- 
trated upon  either  the  grasping  or  the  expression  of  the  thought. 
All  considerations  of  correctness  of  form  are  relegated  to  the  margin 
of  consciousness.  In  order  that  the  habits  of  technical  accuracy  may 
fimction  properly,  at  some  time  in  their  formation  they  must  be 
focalized  upon.  Exercises  in  dictation  are  focalized  lessons  tending 
to  fix  habits  which  are  later  to  operate  in  the  margin  of  conscious- 
ness. 

The  subject  matter  of  the  dictated  exercises  may  be  related  to  the 
subjects  of  the  grade  or  to  the  composition  of  pupils.  The  motive 
should  be  the  desire  to  attain  perfect  written  form.  Each  lesson 
should  center  around  one  point.  The  actual  dictation  should  be  a 
test  of  what  has  previously  been  presented.  The  process  should  be 
from  observation  through  generaUzation  of  the  principle  and  drill, 
to  appHcation  to  new  matter.  Time  should  be  given  to  the  pupils 
to  correct  their  own  work.  Formal  correction  should  be  followed 
by  repeated  drill  on  correct  forms  until  the  probabihty  of  a  recur- 
rence of  the  error  has  been  minimized. 


CHAPTER  XIV 
COMPOSITION 

Composition  is  primarily  a  form  of  written  expression  for 
developing  the  personality  of  the  child.  It  is  here  that  the 
newer  point  of  view  in  education  has  probably  exerted  greatest 
influence  upon  methods.  In  all  work  where  the  product  is  a 
definite  and  readily  examined  thing,  there  is  a  strong  tendency 
toward  formahsm.  In  language  work,  for  example,  conventional 
usage  has  fixed  certain  forms  and  idioms  which  go  to  make  up 
correct  English.  Furthermore,  an  analysis  of  the  practice  of 
our  best  authors  has  brought  to  hght  principles  of  arrangement 
and  proportion  which,  when  carried  out,  create  all  the  desirable 
effects  of  cUmax  and  suspense.  Nothing,  therefore,  is  more 
tempting  than  to  develop  skill  in  writing  as  a  formal  thing, 
subordinating  everything  to  the  right  understanding  of  the 
rules  of  correct  expression  and  artistic  arrangement.  It  is  this 
spirit  which,  to  a  large  extent,  dominated  secondary  and  college 
teaching  in  English  up  to  within  the  last  few  years.  And  it  is 
the  same  spirit,  though  perceptible  in  a  smaller  degree,  which 
has  deadened  composition  work  in  the  elementary  schools. 

Rightly  conceived,  composition  should  offer  to  the  teacher 
the  finest  opportunities  for  affording  to  the  children  an  added 
means  of  self-expression.  It  should  give  clarification  to  ideas, 
since  expression  always  carries  with  it  a  rearrangement  of  the 
content  of  consciousness,  and  therefore,  a  better  unification  of 
experiences.  All  expression  in  language  is  a  means  to  the  better 
reconstruction  and  reorganization  of  mental  states.  As  the 
opportunities  for  oral  expression,  owing  to  the  size  of  the  classes 


142  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

in  our  ordinary  organization,  and  the  limited  time  which  can  be 
devoted  to  the  work,  are  not  so  extensive  as  they  should  be, 
the  teacher  must  rely  upon  the  written  exercise  to  give  to  all 
the  class  opportunity  to  realize  itself  by  expression.  This  is  the 
key  to  the  teacher's  work.  Composition  is  for  ^e//-expression, 
and  from  this  point  of  view  a  double  duty  is  heavily  laid  upon 
the  teacher.  In  the  first  place,  she  should  more  or  less  directly 
lead  the  child  to  the  acquisition  of  experiences  so  vital,  so  much 
a  part  of  his  developing  being,  that  their  very  urgency  will  create 
the  motive  for  expression;  in  other  words,  the  desire  to  communi- 
cate to  others  the  nature  of  these  experiences.  Secondly,  she 
must  so  surround  the  child  during  this  work  with  a  spirit  of 
freedom  and  spontaneity,  that  the  child  will  feel  unrestrained 
in  the  process  of  expression.  In  this  method  of  teaching,  the 
teacher  must  give  to  the  child  a  consciousness  of  mastery  over 
the  difficulties  of  the  written  form  so  that  these  will  not  stand 
between  the  idea  and  its  adequate  expression  in  words.  In 
order  to  make  clearer  this  point  of  view,  it  may  be  well  to  take 
up  each  of  these  points  in  fuller  detail. 

The  day  has  practically  passed  when  in  our  elementary  schools 
children  are  called  upon  to  write  compositions  on  such  subjects 
as  "Home,"  "Friendship,"  "Character,"  and  the  like.  It  was 
the  old  idea  that  all  that  was  necessary  for  the  development  of 
concepts  which  the  teacher  desired  to  have  the  children  possess, 
was  to  direct  the  thinking  of  the  children  to  these  subjects  in 
the  hope  that  deliberation  on  the  abstract  theme  would  result 
in  the  formation  of  the  desired  general  notions.  A  more  rational 
psychology  has  taught  that  a  general  notion  or  a  concept  is 
merely  the  meaning  that  we  read  into  our  experiences  and  that, 
therefore,  no  concept  that  is  really  a  part  of  the  child  himself, 
can  be  present  except  on  the  basis  of  concrete  and  particular 
experiences  in  the  life  of  the  child.  It  is  the  duty  of  the  teacher 
to  select  such  subjects  for  composition  as  will  be  directly  and 
immediately  expressive  of  the  life  of  the  child. 


COMPOSITION  143 

The  subjects  of  compositions  should  be  directly  or  indirectly 
personal.  In  the  first  place,  if,  as  will  be  pointed  out  later,  the 
approach  is  made  through  the  study  of  a  model,  that  model 
should  be  so  selected  that  its  tone,  its  theme,  and  the  mode  of 
its  treatment  are  suited  to  the  development  of  the  child  at  the 
particular  stage  when  the  presentation  is  taking  place.  Nor  is 
it  to  be  supposed  that  this  will  be  limiting  the  scope  of  the  work. 
The  power  of  imagination,  that  is,  of  projecting  self  into  a 
figured  environment,  is  so  strong  in  children  that  the  choice  of 
subjects  is  practically  unlimited.  Nothing  is  more  delightful 
to  a  class  than  to  write  from  the  standpoint  of  some  imaginary 
person  whom,  for  the  moment,  the  child  believes  himself  to  be. 
It  may  be  well  to  insist  that  in  every  composition  the  direct 
personal  note  be  given  by  the  use  either  of  the  pronoun  in  the 
first  person,  or  by  the  direct  naming  of  particular  individuals  in 
the  class. 

As  an  instance  of  this,  we  may  take  a  subject  like  the  follow- 
ing: If  the  composition  happens  to  be  an  exposition  of  how  to 
play  a  certain  game,  instead  of  a  statement  in  the  abstract  of 
the  rules  of  the  game,  the  laying  out  of  the  field,  and  the  disposi- 
tion of  the  players,  the  child  may  be  asked  to  write  an  account 
of  an  actual  game  which  either  he  has  played  or  he  has  seen  his 
classmates  indulge  in.  In  his  account  he  should  refer  to  the 
players  by  name,  and  thus  make  his  account  intimate  and  per- 
sonal. If  the  starting  point  of  the  lesson  is  some  striking  and 
general  topic  like  "A  Narrow  Escape,"  "A  Curious  Coincidence," 
"The  Unexpected  Guest,"  or  the  like,  the  child  should  be 
encouraged  to  tell  the  story  in  the  first  person  instead  of  as  a 
mere  narrative  from  the  standpoint  of  an  onlooker.  In  order  to 
secure  this  kind  of  expression,  the  teacher  must  be  careful  in 
the  choice  of  subjects. 

A  second  requisite  is  the  creation  of  an  atmosphere  of  freedom 
and  spontaneity.     For  this,  three  factors  are  necessary. 

First,  a  feeling  on  the  part  of  the  child  that  he  has  something 


144  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

to  say  worth  saying,  and  as  far  as  he  knows,  worth  Ustening  to. 
Suppose  that  the  aim  of  the  teacher  has  been  to  develop  original 
modes  of  approaching  a  subject.  The  child  will  know  that  his 
work,  to  a  great  extent,  must  be  expressive  of  his  own  person- 
aUty.  Since  the  desire  to  express  the  self  in  words  or  in  action 
is  one  of  the  strongest  characteristics  of  children  during  the 
elementary  school  age,  there  can  be  no  doubt  of  the  interest 
with  which  the  child  will  take  up  the  writing. 

The  second  factor  is  the  feeUng  that  when  once  completed  the 
work  will  be  assured  of  an  appreciative  audience.  Through  all 
the  work  of  writing,  there  should  be  present  the  consciousness 
that  what  the  child  is  now  writing  will  be  seen  or  heard  by  many 
other  children.  The  instinct  of  communication  is  only  one 
phase  of  the  general  social  or  gregarious  instinct.  However  well 
the  teacher  may  have  chosen  her  subjects,  however  animated 
may  have  been  her  development,  it  is  only  when  the  children 
feel  that  others  than  the  teacher  will  read  through  their  work, 
and  read,  moreover,  with  the  interest  that  comes  only  to  one 
who  has  tried  the  same  thing,  that  they  will  write  with  the 
enthusiasm  necessary  for  the  production  of  worthy  work. 

Thirdly,  to  create  the  atmosphere  of  freedom  and  spontaneity, 
the  child  must  be  relieved  of  the  haunting  fear  that  every  word 
is  to  be  carefully  scrutinized  and  every  phrase  weighed,  and 
every  sentence  closely  examined  for  the  purpose  of  detecting 
errors.  The  center  of  attention  during  the  time  of  actual 
composition  should  be  directed  to  the  thought  and  its  fullest 
expression.  Any  attention  diverted  to  the  form  will  mean  a  dis- 
traction. It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that,  as  some  have  suggested, 
children  should  be  allowed  to  write  in  complete  and  utter  disre- 
gard of  the  rules  and  laws  of  punctuation,  spelling,  arrangement, 
and  the  Uke.  All  such  questions,  however,  should  be  relegated 
to  the  margin  of  consciousness;  that  is  to  say,  in  a  certain  sense 
their  control  should  be  sent  down  to  the  lower  centers.  To  do 
this  successfully  at  any  part  of  the  elementary  school  course,  the 


COMPOSITION  145 

focus  of  attention  must  first  have  been  directed  to  acquiring 
a  habit  of  accuracy  in  these  particulars.  Stiffness  in  school 
composition  is  due  to  one  or  both  of  two  factors.  Either  the 
rules  of  formal  expression  have  been  insuflSiciently  drilled,  so 
that  the  production  of  correct  form  calls  for  a  large  amount  of 
conscious  attention,  or  else  the  method  of  criticism  has  been 
largely  destructive,  so  that  the  child  is  buried  under  a  wave  of 
diffidence  due  to  his  fear  of  making  errors  which  will  evoke 
ridicule  or  unkindly  comment. 

It  has  already  been  pointed  out  in  connection  with  the  teach- 
ing of  reading,  that  there  should  be  a  separation  of  the  formal 
from  the  content  element.  In  the  written  work  in  composi- 
tion, it  will  probably  be  found  that  study  of  form  should 
dominate  the  lowest  classes.  Children  do  not  possess  intuitively 
habits  of  correct  written  expression.  These  must  be  built  up 
slowly.  Not  that  the  lowest  classes  should  study  formal  work 
only.  On  the  contrary,  it  will  be  found  that  a  certain  amount 
of  purely  content  work  is  absolutely  indispensable  if  the  formal 
work  is  to  be  interesting.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  not  to  be 
supposed  that  in  the  higher  grades  formal  work  should  be 
completely  disregarded.  To  secure  steady  progress,  the  course 
must  be  continuous.  In  every  case  the  underljdng  principle 
should  be  observed.  The  interest  in  a  real  and  living  content 
must  afford  the  motive  for  the  mastery  of  the  form. 

Instruction  in  composition  may  be  said  to  pass  through  these 
stages:  In  the  first  place,  the  child  lives  either  directly  or 
vicariously  through  vital  experiences.  Secondly,  he  feels  an 
urgency  for  the  expression  of  these  experiences.  Thirdly,  he 
gives  oral  expression  to  these,  and  attempts  a  written  form  of 
expression.  Fourthly,  he  finds  that  the  forms  of  expression  at 
his  disposal  are  insufficient  to  meet  the  demands  made  upon 
him  by  his  new  environment.  Fifthly,  the  teacher,  estimating 
properly  the  extent  of  the  deficiency,  sees  that  if  the  child  is  to 
give  right  expression  to  his  thoughts,  he  must  master  a  certain 


146  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

form.  The  teacher  rehes  upon  the  interest  of  the  child  in  his 
experiences,  upon  his  desire  to  give  expression  to  them,  and  upon 
his  feeUng  that  this  expression  ought  to  be  correct,  to  supply 
the  child  with  that  re-enforcement  of  his  ideal  which  is  one  of 
the  necessary  and  antecedent  conditions  of  prolonged  voluntary 
attention  along  the  Unes  of  true  interest.  Summarizing  then, 
—  given  a  child  with  something  to  say,  who  is  assured  of  an 
interested  audience,  and  is  not  preoccupied  with  the  technique 
and  formal  difficulties  of  expression,  we  have  the  ideal  conditions 
for  good  work  in  composition.  In  order  to  make  clearer  what 
has  already  been  said,  it  may  be  well  to  lay  down  a  series  of 
suggestions. 

1.  Never  assign  a  lesson  for  composition  unless  you  are  sure 
the  children  have  sufficient  information  and  experience  to 
enable  them  to  write  easily,  inteUigently,  and  willingly. 

2.  See'  that  all  your  subjects  are  concrete,  personal,  definite, 
and  brief. 

3.  Remember  that  every  written  composition  lesson  carries 
with  it  two  distinct  features  of  difficulty:  First,  the  organization 
of  the  thought.  Secondly,  the  right  expression  of  the  thought. 
Make  the  work  easier  for  the  child  by  having  almost  every 
written  lesson  preceded  by  a  period  of  preparation  in  which  the 
point  of  view  of  the  different  children  may  be  brought  out,  new 
attitudes  suggested,  and  the  right  order  of  treatment  decided 
upon.  This  period  of  preparation  may  frequently  conclude 
with  the  formation  of  an  outline  by  topics. 

4.  Devote  a  complete  period  to  the  actual  writing  of  the 
composition  and  the  reading  by  pupils  of  their  own  work.  Make 
the  period  of  preparation  an  exercise  in  oral  composition. 

5.  Do  not  sacrifice  free  expression  for  the  purpose  of  securing 
a  beautiful  copy.  On  the  other  hand,  never  permit  slovenly 
work. 

6.  Maintain  the  closest  correlation  between  composition  and 
drill  on  the  common  errors  of  speech. 


COMPOSITION  147 

7.  Be  sure  to  distinguish  a  formal  composition  lesson  of  this 
type  from  a  mere  reproduction  of  the  subject  matter  of  other 
subjects  of  the  course. 

Summary. — Composition  is  an  added  means  of  self-expression 
for  the  child.  Subjects  should  be  personal.  The  spirit  of  the  exer- 
cise should  be  free  and  spontaneous.  To  secure  this,  (i)  the  child 
must  feel  that  he  has  something  worth  while  to  say;  (2)  he  must 
feel  that  he  is  writing  for  appreciative  and  sympathetic  readers; 
(3)  he  must  not  be  burdened  with  the  fear  of  over-minute  destruc- 
tive criticism.  Interest  in  the  real  and  Hving  content  must  afiford  the 
motive  for  the  mastery  of  the  form.  The  sequence  should  be  (i) 
gaining  vital  experiences;  (2)  feehng  an  urgent  need  for  expression; 
(3)  oral  expression;  (4)  attempts  at  written  expression;  (5)  study 
of  forms  of  written  expression;   (6)  adequate  written  expression. 


CHAPTER    XV 
COMPOSITION    (Continued) 

The  Study  of  Models 

It  has  been  suggested  that  in  the  teaching  of  composition 
there  should  be  an  extensive  use  of  models.  The  recorded 
experiences  of  many  of  the  best  writers  point  to  the  fact  that 
their  own  style  was  formed  largely  through  the  careful  study  of 
the  works  of  their  great  predecessors.  This  studio  or  laboratory 
method  has  features  of  the  greatest  value  for  work  in  the  ele- 
mentary schools.  The  general  principle  underlying  the  method 
is  eminently  sound.  The  most  important  instinct  in  children 
on  which  the  educative  process  can  be  brought  to  bear  is  the 
instinct  of  imitation.  It  is  through  imitation  that  human 
speech  is  transmitted  from  generation  to  generation.  It  is 
through  imitation  that  we  build  up  those  habits  of  action  which 
constitute  the  basis  of  character.  In  other  fields,  the  potency  of 
this  instinct  as  an  added  factor  in  teaching  has  long  been 
recognized.  It  is  surprising  that  it  has  taken  so  long  to  make 
its  way  into  the  teaching  of  English  in  elementary  schools. 

It  need  not  be  emphasized  that  as  carried  out  in  the  ele- 
mentary school,  the  method  should  be  essentially  different  from 
that  suited  to  older  children.  Yet,  while  it  is  the  aim  not  so 
much  to  give  certain  tricks  of  style  as  it  is  to  furnish  standards 
and  models  of  correct,  clear,  and  forcible  expression,  in  many 
respects  the  underlying  laws  of  the  method  will  be  the  same. 
There  must  be  a  model,  a  careful  study  of  the  model  with 
definite  purposes  in  mind,  perhaps  an  imitation,  and  finally  an 
application  to  an  original  content  of  what  has  been  gathered 
from  the  study. 


COMPOSITION  —  STUDY  OF  MODELS  149 

In  a  brief  way  this  summarizes  the  usual  studio  method. 
While  it  possesses  many  features  of  undoubted  excellence,  it 
must  be  carefully  examined  before  it  can  be  adopted  in  toto. 

In  the  ordinary  course  of  study  the  teaching  of  formal  written 
composition  commences  in  the  fourth  year.  In  the  earher 
years,  there  have  been  exercises  in  dictation,  in  transcription, 
and  in  directed  paragraph  construction.  With  the  fourth  year, 
however,  begins  the  study  of  the  model  as  a  basis  for  composi- 
tion. There  should  be  a  definite  progression  in  the  difficulty 
of  the  models  selected.  An  ordinary  course  of  study  merely 
says  that  there  are  to  be  models  of  description,  of  narration,  of 
exposition,  and  of  letters.  We  are  supposed  to  infer  that  there 
is  to  be  a  gradation  of  the  difficulty.  The  needs  in  any  particular 
locality  will  determine  the  principle  that  should  underlie  this 
increase  of  difficulty.    A  suggestion  of  the  arrangement  is  here 

given: 

Letter  Writing 

Fourth  year^  first  half.  —  Select  as  a  model  a  pupil's  letter  to 
father,  or  to  mother,  or  to  a  teacher,  on  school  activities.  This 
is  the  most  intensely  personal  subject  that  can  be  selected.  If 
the  teacher  adjusts  the  time  of  teaching  so  that  there  will  be  a 
real  or  an  apparent  need  for  the  writing  of  such  a  letter,  the 
necessary  motive  will  be  supplied. 

Fourth  year,  second  half.  —  Select  a  pupil's  letter  to  a  fellow- 
pupil,  on  school  Hfe,  etc.  Here  once  more  the  personal  note  is 
sounded,  while  the  added  difficulty  is  the  fact  that  correspond- 
ence between  pupils  of  this  age  is  less  likely  to  be  spontaneous 
than  correspondence  between  a  pupil  and  a  parent  or  a  teacher. 
The  strain  is  therefore  placed  upon  the  child  of  meeting  a  new 
condition  for  which  his  earlier  training  has  not  prepared  him. 
As  a  result,  there  will  be  development  in  the  child's  power  of 
expression. 

Fifth  year,  first  half.  —  The  child  is  approaching  the  time  when, 
according  to  the  requirements  of  a  compulsory  education  law, 


I50  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

he  may  leave  school  and  enter  upon  employment.  The  model 
may  therefore  be  a  letter  making  application  for  a  position. 
The  child  will  see  the  immediate  importance  and  the  ultimate 
value  of  this  exercise,  and  there  will  be  no  question  as  to  the 
interest  and  effort  he  will  put  forth. 

Fifth  year,  second  half.  —  The  probabilities  of  having  boys 
leave  school  to  go  to  work  become  very  much  greater.  As  a 
consequence,  the  work  in  business  correspondence  may  be  made 
more  extensive,  and  the  models  for  letter  writing  may  include 
various  business  forms,  correspondence  connected  with  organiza- 
tions, and  the  like. 

Sixth  year,  first  half.  —  It  will  probably  be  found  that  a  greater 
portion  of  time  should  be  spent  on  the  other  branches  of  the 
composition  work.  It  may  be  found  advisable  to  omit  any 
formal  or  advance  work  in  letter  writing.  This  is  not  to  imply 
that  the  children  are  not  to  write  any  letters  in  this  grade.  It 
is  to  be  remembered  that  the  suggestions  for  models  as  laid  down 
here  apply  only  to  the  formal  study  of  the  technique  of  the  letter 
taken  up  as  a  separate  exercise.  In  addition  to  this,  as  in  the 
other  branches  of  the  composition  work,  there  should  be  informal 
work,  such  as  is  naturally  suggested  by  the  ever  widening  ex- 
periences of  the  child  in  his  school  and  home  relations.  There- 
fore, the  class  may  be  called  upon  to  write  half  a  dozen  letters 
covering  the  types  studied  in  the  fourth  and  fifth  years. 

Sixth  year,  second  half.  —  Formal  letter  writing  may  again  be 
taken  up  through  the  medium  of  a  model,  and  particular  atten- 
tion ma^  be  paid  to  the  formal,  semi-formal,  and  the  informal 
models  of  social  correspondence.  It  is  of  doubtful  value  to 
spend  much  time  on  social  correspondence  in  the  third  person. 
It  is  easy  for  children  to  understand  that  the  acceptance  or  the 
refusal  of  an  invitation  should  be  determined  in  style  by  the 
nature  of  the  invitation  itself,  and  it  is  of  much  greater  value  to 
the  children  that  they  should  learn  how  to  write  in  a  spontane- 
ous and  informal  way  Uttle  notes  of  acceptance  or  regret. 


COMPOSITION  — STUDY  OF  MODELS  151 

Description 

One  of  the  reasons  why  children  develop  in  the  higher  classes 
no  greater  power  of  description  than  they  possess  in  the  lower, 
is  that  teachers  have  failed  to  analyze  the  difficulties  of  descrip- 
tive composition.  There  should  be  a  gradation.  On  the  one 
hand,  the  children  should  not  at  the  outset  be  overwhelmed  by 
too  much;  on  the  other,  they  should  not  lose  interest  in  the  work 
because  each  successive  grade  sees  only  a  repetition  of  what  was 
taken  up  in  the  earUer  ones.  In  the  analysis  of  the  types  of 
descriptive  writing  as  here  suggested,  it  should  be  remembered 
that  the  aim  is  only  to  give  a  basis  for  selecting  models  for 
intensive  study.  It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  the  only  descrip- 
tions which  the  children  are  to  write  should  be  those  suggested 
for  the  grade,  or  already  taken  up  in  earlier  grades. 

It  has  already  been  made  clear  that  the  standard  for  choice 
of  composition  topics  should  be  the  degree  to  which  these  topics 
are  expressive  of  the  normal  experience  of  the  children.  A  child 
may  be  called  upon  in  the  fourth  year  to  write  a  description  of  a 
certain  subject  even  though  the  formal  type  of  such  description 
may  not  be  studied  until  the  sixth  year.  In  such  work,  the 
teacher  is  not  to  be  too  critical  of  results. 

Fourth  year,  first  half.  —  The  model  may  be  a  single,  small, 
inanimate  object,  such  as  a  chair,  or  a  table,  or  a  desk.  This  is 
easily  described,  first,  because  it  is  purely  objective;  secondly, 
because  there  is  a  regular  mode  of  procedure  from  the  whole  to 
the  parts,  and  to  a  statement  of  the  use. 

Fourth  year,  second  half.  —  The  description  may  be  that  of  a 
room  or  an  interior.  Here  the  parts  are  easily  arranged  be- 
cause there  is,  first,  a  description  of  the  unit,  and  then  a  treat- 
ment in  order  of  the  various  parts.  Moreover,  a  further  increase 
of  difficulty  may  be  provided  for  in  the  teacher's  presentation 
by  having  the  children  inject  a  subjective  element  into  their 
descriptions;   for  example,  the  feeling  which  the  room  arouses 


152  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

at  first  glance,  or  the  general  impression  which  it  makes  on  the 
mind  of  the  observer.  Retrospection  or  subjective  analysis  is 
always  more  difficult  than  purely  objective  description. 

Fifth  year^  first  half.  —  The  description  may  be  extended  to 
that  of  a  building.  Here  the  teacher  should  aim  to  develop  the 
idea  of  describing  from  two  different  points  of  view.  The  house 
in  its  surroundings  may  first  be  treated,  and  then  the  house  as 
a  thing  by  itself. 

Fifth  year,  second  half.  —  Description  takes  a  long  step  from 
the  purely  expositional  features  it  has  possessed  in  the  first  three 
models.  Here  the  subject  selected  should  be  a  large  scene  of 
some  sort  —  a  street  scene  or  one  in  the  country.  The  de- 
mand made  upon  the  children  for  descriptive  adjectives  and 
for  phrases  that  will  lend  color  to  the  account,  will  give  oppor- 
tunity for  complete  mental  activity. 

In  the  first  half  of  the  sixth  year,  the  description  may  be  that 

of  a  person,  while  in  the  second  half,  there  may  be  an  attempt 

at  a  combination  of  the  last  two  named;  that  is  to  say,  the  model 

should  be  the  description  of  a  scene  with  a  person  or  a  group  of 

persons  in  it. 

Narration 

Narration  has  primarily  to  do  with  action.  It  is  dynamic 
and  should  be  ever  changing.  Hence,  it  is  in  the  drama  that 
we  can  find  the  most  valuable  suggestions  to  guide  us  in  the 
selection  of  models  for  this  kind  of  work.  Here,  as  in  no  other 
form  of  literary  composition,  we  see  the  importance  of  unity 
and  continuity.  Two  events  stand  out  prominently:  the 
cHmax  and  the  catastrophe.  The  former  is  the  key-stone  of  the 
play.  To  it,  everything  that  precedes  must  lead.  Whatever 
does  not  have  intimate  bearing  on  the  development  of  the 
climax  is  evidence  of  bad  construction.  From  the  cHmax  all 
events  must  radiate  through  the  operation  of  the  natural  laws 
of  cause  and  effect,  to  the  final  capping  event,  the  catastrophe 
where  poetic  justice  is  meted  out  with  lavish  hand,  where 


COMPOSITION  — STUDY  OF  MODELS  153 

intricacies  are  unraveled,  and  obscurities  illuminated.  Details 
may  be  introduced  for  variety  or  to  give  the  audience  pause. 
But  in  no  case  should  any  detail  take  so  important  a  place  that 
the  main  interest  is  even  for  a  moment  drawn  from  the  develop- 
ment of  the  climax.  The  deus  in  machina  must  be  felt  but 
never  seen.  Furthermore,  it  is  an  important  quality  of  a 
good  play  that  the  opening  scene  be  such  as  immediately  to 
grip  the  attention  and  give  an  insight  into  the  main  idea  of 
the  story. 

In  the  selection  of  the  model,  therefore,  and  in  the  teaching 
of  this  form  of  composition,  the  teacher  should  be  careful  to 
emphasize  the  importance  of  the  opening  part  of  the  story. 
If  the  method  of  taking  up  the  reproduction  of  stories  has  been 
followed  along  the  lines  suggested  in  an  earlier  part  of  this  work, 
it  will  be  found  that  the  children  already  have  command  of 
certain  good  forms  of  literary  composition  which  will  serve  them 
as  models.  But  it  must  not  be  imagined  that  the  teacher  is  to 
rely  altogether  upon  this  knowledge.  It  is  one  thing  uncon- 
sciously to  imitate  a  good  form  without  analyzing  its  component 
parts  and  accounting  for  its  various  excellences.  It  is  quite 
another  to  take  up  this  form  as  a  central  object  of  study,  to 
concentrate  upon  it,  and  to  focalize  upon  it  with  a  view  to 
making  it  an  eflScient  factor  for  the  more  ready  expression  of 
one's  ideas.  It  is  from  the  latter  point  of  view  that  the  study 
of  the  model  should  be  taken  up.  The  principle  determining  the 
progression  of  difficulties  in  the  models  for  narration,  should  be 
that  of  increase  in  the  number  of  incidents  and  in  the  com- 
plexity or  involution  of  their  relation. 

Fourth  year,  first  half.  —  The  model  may  be  a  single  incident 
—  a  fable  or  a  story.  From  the  very  beginning  it  should  be 
pointed  out  that  a  story  is  completed  when  the  point  of  the 
story  has  been  told.  Although  the  fuller  treatment  of  this 
topic  may  be  deferred  to  some  later  grade,  from  the  very  be- 
ginning children  should  be  taught  that  most  difficult  of  all 


154  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

features  of  the  story-teller's  art;  namely,  that  when  they  have 
reached  the  end  of  the  story,  they  should  stop. 

Fourth  year,  second  half.  —  The  model  may  be  a  story  which 
contains  several  incidents,  so  put  together  and  so  arranged  as  to 
develop  a  teUing  climax. 

Fifth  year,  first  half.  —  The  teacher  may  employ  a  model 
which  makes  use  of  details  for  the  effective  telUng  of  the  story. 
The  attention  of  the  class  should  be  concentrated  upon  modes  of 
developing  these  details  through  descriptions,  and  particularly 
through  dialogue. 

Fifth  year,  second  half.  —  A  correlation  with  the  work  in 
description  may  be  effected.  The  model  may  be  a  story  con- 
taining a  description  of  a  scene  more  or  less  complex.  When 
the  children  come  later  to  write  original  compositions  on  the 
basis  of  the  model  they  have  studied,  it  may  be  suggested  to 
them  that  it  is  possible  to  treat  a  description  so  as  to  make  its 
general  tone  fit  the  tone  of  the  story.  This  will  lead  to  a  hinting 
at  the  device  of  selecting  details  so  as  to  create  the  desired  effect. 
The  same  room,  for  example,  may  be  described  so  as  to  create 
the  impression  either  of  cheerfulness  or  of  gloom,  depending 
upon  what  features  in  its  appearance  are  emphasized. 

Sixth  year,  both  halves. — The  correlation  with  the  description 
work  may  be  continued  so  as  to  have  the  story  model  contain  a 
description  of  some  person  of  importance  in  the  narrative.  In 
the  second  half  of  the  sixth  year  no  one  particular  model  should 
be  studied,  but  a  number  of  stories  should  be  read  and  carefully 
examined  with  a  view  to  developing  the  idea  of  the  appropriate 
introduction  and  the  appropriate  ending. 

Exposition 

The  general  plan  or  outline  which  is  observable  in  most 
expositions  is  practically  the  same.  The  increase  in  difficulty, 
therefore,  of  our  models  should  come  from  the  use  of  a  greater 
number  of  details  in  the  course  of  the  exposition.     It  will  not 


COMPOSITION  — STUDY  OF  MODELS  155 

be  necessary  to  treat  this  question  at  much  length.  The  nature 
of  the  subjects  chosen  for  the  exposition  work,  together  with  the 
models  which  are  furnished  as  illustrations  of  what  is  meant, 
will  by  itself  determine  the  kind  of  difficulties  added  in  the 
course  of  the  added  grades. 

Fourth  year,  first  half.  —  The  model  may  tell  how  a  game  is 
played.  The  basis  should  be  an  actual  game  played  in  sight  of 
the  children  or  by  the  children  themselves.  The  personal  element 
may  be  injected  here,  as  in  all  the  other  models  in  this  branch  of 
the  work,  by  the  use  of  names,  and  by  definite  locations  in  place. 

Fourth  year,  second  half.  —  The  model  may  tell  how  an  article 
is  made.  Care  should  be  taken  that  the  article  chosen  is  one 
of  use  to  the  children,  and  one,  moreover,  which  they  have 
really  made. 

Fifth  year,  first  half.  — The  subject  may  be,  "How  a  lesson 
is  conducted."  This  dififers  from  the  work  of  the  fourth  year  in 
that  the  material  that  is  used  is  no  longer  inanimate  but  consists 
of  the  living  members  of  the  class.  In  other  words,  there  is  a 
response  on  the  part  of  those  with  whom  the  operation  is  per- 
formed. 

Fifth  year,  second  half.  —  The  same  idea  may  be  carried  out  in 
somewhat  greater  complexity  by  choosing  as  the  subject  of  the 
exposition  some  difficult  and  involved  school  evolution  such  as 
the  marching  into  or  out  of  assembly,  the  action  of  a  class  during 
a  fire  drill,  etc. 

Sixth  year,  first  half.  —  Partly  as  a  preparation  for  the  science 
work  of  the  seventh  year  and  partly  as  an  extension  of  the  work 
in  etymology  which  should  have  been  begun  in  an  earlier  class, 
and  which  by  this  time  should  have  reached  a  more  or  less  ad- 
vanced stage,  the  subject  of  the  exposition  may  be  the  explana- 
tion of  some  term.  Emphasis  should  be  laid  upon  the  logical 
development  of  the  parts  of  the  explanation,  and  care  should  be 
taken  that  the  childrv^n  weigh  carefully  the  words,  particularly 
the  adjectives,  used. 


156 


THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 


Sixth  year,  second  half.  —  There  may  be  a  further  extension  of 
this  kind  of  work  by  making  the  subject  of  the  exposition  a  com- 
parison of  two  terms  or  of  two  animals,  or  of  two  cities,  or  of 
two  personages  or  characters  in  history. 

Summary. — The  study  of  models  is  an  excellent  mode  of  teach- 
ing style.  The  appeal  is  through  the  instinct  of  imitation.  The 
models  should  be  carefully  graded. 

OUTLINE  OF  A  GRADED  SERIES  OF  MODELS  FOR  COMPOSITION 


YEAR-HALF 

LETTERS 

DESCRIPTION 

NARRATION 

EXPOSITION 

4— ist 

From  pupil 

A  single 

A  single  incident 

How  a  game 

to  father. 

inanimate 

e.  g.,  a  fable 

is  played 

mother,  or 

object 

teacher 

4 — 2d 

From  pupil 

A  room 

A  story  contain- 

How some 

to  fellow- 

ing  several  inci- 

simple article 

pupil 

dents  leading  to  a 
cUmax 

is  made 

5— I  St 

Application 

A  building 

A  narrative  de- 

How a  lesson 

for  a 

from  two 

veloped  through 

is  conducted 

position 

points  of 
view 

details 

5 — 2d 

Business 

A  large  scene 

A  simple  narra- 

How an  in- 

letters 

— city  or 

tive  combined 

tricate  school 

country 

with  a  descrip- 
tion of  its  setting 

manoeuvre  is 
effected 

6— I  St 

Review  of 

A  person 

A  simple  narra- 

The explana- 

form of 

tive  combined 

tion  of  a 

letters 

with  a  descrip- 
tion of  its  impor- 
tant personages 

term 

6— 2d 

Social  corre- 

A large  scene 

Narrative 

The  compari- 

spondence 

'combined 

studied  with 

son  of  two 

Formal — In- 

with the  de- 

reference to  ap- 

terms 

formal 

scriptions  of 
persons 

propriate  intro- 
duction and 
conclusion 

K 


CHAPTER  XVI 
HOW  THE   MODEL   IS   TO   BE  USED 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  arrangement  of  the  models  in  all 
branches  of  composition  is  such  as  to  provide  for  a  progression 
from  the  fourth  year  to  the  sixth.  The  question  will  naturally 
arise,  —  *'What  provision  is  to  be  made  for  the  seventh  and  the 
eighth  year?  "  That  the  model  should  be  used  in  the  last  two 
years  goes  without  saying.  There  is,  however,  to  be  a  difference 
in  the  mode  of  treatment,  and  this  difference  is  so  marked,  in 
other  words,  the  method  of  teaching  in  the  highest  two  grades 
is  so  different  from  that  followed  in  the  preceding  three,  that 
there  will  be  no  need  of  indicating  the  progression  in  difficulty 
of  the  model. 

In  general,  it  may  be  said  that  in  the  fourth  year  the  aim 
should  be  to  imitate  the  model  as  such.  The  teacher  should 
particularly  call  the  attention  of  the  class  to  the  sequence  of 
topics.  The  idea  of  the  outUne,  its  function,  and  its  value  as  a 
preparatory  step  to  the  writing  of  the  composition  itself  should 
be  shown.  Moreover,  by  actual  use,  the  teacher  should  show 
what  a  topic  sentence  is.  It  has  been  foimd  of  value  to  require 
occasionally  that  when  the  class  prepares  an  outHne,  every  topic 
should  be  represented  by  a  complete  sentence.  While  the  model 
is  studied,  the  only  aim  should  be  the  understanding  of  the 
model  itself,  with  a  view  to  inteUigent  imitation.  The  members 
of  the  class  will  note  that  at  a  later  time  they  will  be  called  upon 
to  write  an  original  composition  in  imitation  of  the  model 
they  are  studying,  but  it  is  unnecessary  that  their  attention 
should  be  divided  by  letting  them  know  what  the  subject  of  that 
composition  is  to  be,  or  even  what  general  form  it  is  to  take. 


158  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

In  the  fifth  year  the  study  of  the  model  may  be  with  a  view  to 
guidance  in  the  original  work.  That  is  to  say,  the  subject  for 
the  original  composition  should  be  known  to  the  class  at  the 
same  time  that  they  are  studying  the  model.  It  will  be  im- 
necessary  to  go  through  the  step  of  reproduction  of  the  model 
in  this  year;  for  while  the  pupils  are  studying  the  model,  since 
they  already  know  the  subject  of  the  composition  upon  which 
they  are  to  write,  they  are  forming  judgments  as  to  how  they 
must  adapt  the  order  of  treatment  of  topics  in  the  model,  the 
development  of  these  topics,  and  the  choice  of  words,  in  order 
to  give  an  effective  treatment  of  their  own  subject. 

In  the  sixth  year  the  teacher  should  interfere  to  as  slight  an 
extent  as  possible  in  the  work  of  model  study.  Children  should 
form  the  topical  outHne  practically  unaided,  and  by  a  few 
leading  questions  they  may  be  called  upon  to  speak  of  those 
features  of  the  model  which  in  their  judgment  are  worthy  of 
imitation,  and  which  admit  of  adaptation  to  their  own  original 
work.  In  other  words,  there  should  be  the  beginning  of  an  at- 
tempt to  form  a  critical  judgment  on  the  part  of  the  children. 

As  a  further  suggestion,  it  may  be  said  that  in  the  first  half  of 
the  fourth  year,  there  should  be,  after  the  analysis  of  the  model 
and  the  formation  of  the  outline,  merely  an  oral  reproduction 
of  the  model.  It  is  perhaps  too  much  to  ask  the  children  to 
attempt  at  once  the  difficult  step  of  exact  reproduction.  They 
are  in  this  work  confronted  with  three  difficulties.  In  the  first 
place,  they  must  follow  the  order  of  development  as  indicated  in 
the  model.  Secondly,  they  are  met  with  the  difficulties  of 
speUing,  punctuation,  and  the  use  of  correct  EngHsh.  In  the 
third  place,  there  is  the  difficulty  of  remembering  and  incorporat- 
ing into  their  own  reproduction  the  exact  words  and  phrases  of 
the  model.  Throughout,  there  is  a  great  strain  upon  the  memory 
which  may  be  exhausting  to  a  child  attempting  this  work  for 
the  first  time. 

If  we  insist  merely  upon  the  oral  reproduction  of  the  model, 


HOW  THE  MODEL  IS  TO  BE  USED  159 

we  are  accomplishing  several  things.  In  the  first  place,  we  are 
affording  an  opportunity  for  formal  drill  and  exercise  in  oral 
composition.  In  the  second  place,  we  are  relieving  the  children 
of  the  burden  of  paying  attention  to  the  spelling,  the  punctua- 
tion, the  paragraphing,  and  the  penmanship.  And  in  the 
third  place,  we  are  creating  a  vital  interest  in  the  step  of  repro- 
duction. There  is  no  more  stimulating  element  in  class  work 
than  the  comparison  of  the  work  done  by  one  member  of  the 
class  before  his  classmates  with  what  each  classmate  figures  in 
his  own  mind  would  have  been  his  own  performance  had  he 
the  opportunity  to  appear  before  the  class.  In  this  step,  the 
children  should  be  encouraged  to  adopt  happy  words  or  phrases 
from  the  model  and  to  incorporate  them  bodily  into  their  own 
oral  work.  In  fact,  it  is  not  too  early  to  initiate  in  this  class  the 
habit  of  keeping  note-books  in  which  the  children  will  write 
words  or  phrases  which  the  teacher  commends  as  being  par- 
ticularly apt  and  appropriate,  and  which  could  be  used  with 
advantage  by  the  children  in  their  composition  work. 

In  the  second  half  of  the  fourth  year,  the  step  of  written  repro- 
duction may  be  introduced.  The  added  difficulties  of  spelling, 
paragraphing,  punctuation,  etc.,  it  is  true,  will  be  no  less  than 
they  would  have  been  had  this  work  been  done  in  the  first  half 
of  the  year;  but  as  has  already  been  suggested,  it  is  advisable  to 
have  the  pupils  accustomed  to  the  idea  of  imitation  of  a  model 
before  they  are  called  upon  to  imitate  in  writing. 

In  the  first  half  of  the  fifth  year,  it  is  unnecessary,  as  has 
already  been  suggested,  to  have  the  step  of  reproduction.  Care 
should  be  taken  that  the  subject  chosen  for  the  model  may  be 
closely  similar  to  the  subject  of  the  first  class  composition  based 
on  the  model.  In  this  way  it  will  be  more  easy  for  the  children 
to  incorporate  words,  phrases,  and  modes  of  treatment  into 
their  own  work. 

In  the  second  half  of  the  fifth  year  the  formal  study  may  be 
concentrated  on  the  study  of  letter-writing,  while  in  the  other 


i6o  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

branches  of  the  composition  work  it  may  be  found  advisable  to 
have  the  steps  in  the  study  of  the  model  as  brief  as  possible,  so 
as  to  provide  for  as  much  original  work  as  can  be  done  in  the 
allotted  time. 

In  the  sixth  year  the  plan  of  study  should  be  like  that  adopted 
for  the  fifth.  That  is  to  say,  the  subject  of  the  first  composi- 
tion to  be  written  by  the  children  should  be  known  to  them  at  the 
time  the  model  is  presented.  The  step  of  reproduction  may  be 
omitted,  but  the  attention  of  the  children  should  be  directed  by 
the  teacher  not  so  much  to  the  outline  or  to  the  sequence  of 
topics  as  to  the  turns  of  phrases,  the  diction,  and  the  structure 
of  the  sentence.  Particularly  should  there  be  a  careful  study  of 
what  should  be  included  in  a  single  paragraph.  Where  English 
is  not  altogether  a  foreign  language,  it  may  be  found  advisable 
to  classify  paragraphs  under  certain  heads,  as  is  done  in  the 
paragraph  study  of  the  high  school.  It  is  always  a  convenient 
thing  to  be  able  to  refer  to  a  form  by  name,  even  though  it  be 
technical,  rather  than  by  a  long  description. 

It  is  a  mistake  for  the  teacher  to  imagine  that  there  should  be 
but  one  model  presented  each  term  for  each  type  of  composition. 
She  should  select  a  number  of  the  same  general  type  for  compara- 
tive study.  These  may  be  read  at  different  parts  of  the  period 
during  which  the  study  of  the  model  is  taken  up,  the  aim  being 
to  furnish  the  children  with  many  illustrations.  The  result  will 
be  that  while  there  may  be  a  general  likeness  in  the  nature  of  the 
reproduction  made  by  the  class,  there  will  be  some  variety,  since 
different  pupils  will  select  from  the  various  models  some  one 
feature  which  they  will  add  to  the  type  model  studied  by  all. 
Since  in  few  cases  will  the  judgment  of  two  children  exactly 
coincide,  the  work,  being  continually  varied,  will  always  be 
interesting. 

;  In  the  first  half  of  the  fourth  year  it  will  probably  be  found 
most  advisable  to  take  one  complete  lesson  for  the  study  of  the 
model,  another  for  the  step  of  reproduction,  a  third  for  a  com- 


HOW  THE  MODEL  IS  TO  BE  USED  i6i 

position  on  a  similar  topic,  and  a  fourth  for  correction.  On  the 
basis  of  two  lessons  in  formal  composition  each  week,  it  will  be 
seen  that  it  is  possible  to  carry  on  the  study  of  two  models  each 
month.  The  second  may  be  selected  from  the  reader  or  from  a 
supplementary  text  book,  or  if  the  teacher  so  desire,  from  a 
regular  book  of  models  in  English  composition.  It  will  be  possi- 
ble to  have  the  study  of  the  second  model  and  the  oral  reproduc- 
tion take  place  in  one  period,  the  writing  of  a  similar  composition 
in  a  second  period,  while  the  correction  would  occupy  the  third. 
The  last  composition  period  for  the  month  could,  therefore,  be 
set  aside  for  the  writing  of  a  test  composition  on  a  subject  chosen 
by  the  teacher  or  selected  by  the  pupils  from  a  Hst  presented  by 
the  teacher.  It  was  been  found  valuable  to  carry  on  this  plan 
of  study  throughout  the  fourth  and  the  fifth  years. 

In  the  sixth  year,  there  may  be  less  study  of  the  model  and 
more  opportunity  for  original  composition.  In  fact,  even  in  the 
second  half  of  the  fifth  year  it  may  be  found  advisable  to  restrict 
the  number  of  models  studied  to  one  each  month,  thus  largely 
increasing  the  amount  of  original  work  that  can  be  done  by  the 
children. 

It  is  suggested  that  in  the  first  month  of  the  term  letters  be 
studied;  in  the  second,  narration;  in  the  third,  exposition;  in 
the  fourth,  description;  while  in  the  fifth,  although  there  should 
be  no  model  study,  there  might  be  a  review  of  the  models  already 
studied  so  that  the  composition  may  be  on  such  a  subject  as  will 
involve  description  combined  with  narration  through  the  dia- 
logue and  the  use  of  the  direct  quotation. 

Summary. — There  should  be  a  grading  in  the  use  of  the  model. 
Fourth  year  —  Direct  imitation  of  the  model  and  development  of 
an  outline. 

I  St  Half  —  Oral  reproduction  of  the  model. 
2nd  Half  —  Written  reproduction  of  the  model. 
Fifth  year  —  Using  the  model  for  guidance,  the  step  of  direct 
imitation  being  omitted. 


1 62  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

ist  Half  —  Study  of  selected  words  and  phrases, 

2nd  Half  —  Study  of  correct  placing  of  parts  of  a  letter. 
Sixth  year  —  Formation  of  outline  by  pupils  omitted.     Children 
to  exercise  their  own  judgment  in  designating  features  of  the  model 
most  worthy  of  imitation. 

I  St  Half  —  Study  of  paragraph  unity. 

2nd  Half  —  Study  of  sentence  unity. 


CHAPTER  XVII 
COMPOSITION    (Continued) 

Letter  Writing 

The  quality  most  difficult  to  secure  in  pupils'  letters  is 
spontaneity;  and  this  is  but  natural.  For  this  very  quality  is 
one  so  elusive,  so  thoroughly  identified  with  the  interests  of  the 
children,  so  completely  a  form  of  pure  self-expression,  that  it 
may  be  doubted  whether  a  spontaneous  effect  can  ever,  through 
the  teacher's  efforts,  be  secured.  If  it  is  not  present  it  cannot 
be  forced.  Originality  cannot  be  taught.  If,  however,  we  can 
discover  what  are  the  restraints  which  make  letters  written  by 
children  in  the  grades  of  the  elementary  school  so  artificial  and 
awkward,  it  might  be  possible,  could  we  but  remove  the  hamper- 
ing factors,  to  lend  to  this  work,  within  the  limit  of  the  children's 
powers,  the  freedom,  the  grace,  and  the  charm  that  characterize 
the  correspondence  of  a  Lowell,  a  Dodgson,  or  a  Stevenson. 

The  traditional  demarcation  between  the  life  of  books  and  the 
life  of  the  world  finds  its  parallel  in  two  entirely  different  forms 
of  expression  within  the  school.  Just  as  there  once  was  a  beHef 
(have  we  altogether  outgrown  it  to-day?)  that  the  form  and  the 
subject  matter  of  written  language  should  be  as  far  removed  as 
possible  from  the  style  and  the  content  of  everyday  speech,  so 
do  our  children  in  the  schools  unconsciously  adopt,  in  their 
written  work,  a  style  as  foreign  to  the  natural  form  of  the  daily 
conversation  as  the  subjects  they  choose  for  their  compositions 
differ  from  the  topics  they  discuss  in  their  walks  to  and  from 
school.  Naturalness  disappears  as  soon  as  they  take  pen  in 
hand.    They  are  on  their  best  behavior,  and  strut  about,  so  to 


i64  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

speak,  uncomfortably  correct,  stilted,  unbending.  Nowhere  is 
this  more  apparent  than  in  their  correspondence,  for  it  is  here 
that  since  naturalness  is  the  main  desideratum,  the  lack  of  it 
becomes  most  painfully  evident.  The  great  task  before  the 
teacher,  briefly  speaking,  is  this:  to  remove  as  much  as  possible 
the  barrier  between  free  thinking  and  written  expression.  The 
latter  should  be  made  not  only  the  natural  but  even  the  neces- 
sary outcome  of  the  former. 

But  how  is  this  to  be  done?  In  the  last  few  years  great 
advance  has  been  made  in  one  direction.  We  have  already 
referred  to  the  fact  that  the  subjects  of  compositions  called  for 
from  the  children  are  on  live  topics.  We  are  coming  more  and 
more  to  realize  that  the  logical  sources  of  our  composition  work 
are  not  the  pet  theories  of  the  teacher  but  the  natural  interests 
of  the  children.  Little,  therefore,  need  be  said  in  this  place 
regarding  the  choice  of  subjects.  In  the  matter  of  form,  however, 
the  results  have  not  been  so  satisfactory.  Pupils  have  not 
attained  the  requisite  facility  in  using  the  language.  Their 
attention  is  constantly  wavering  between  what  they  wish  to 
say  and  how  they  wish  to  say  it.  We  must  concentrate  our 
efforts  therefore  on  the  matter  of  form  itself,  and  what  is  more, 
on  those  very  parts  where  unnaturalness  most  clearly  shows 
itself;  namely,  in  the  opening  and  closing  portions  of  the  letter. 
A  graceful  exit  from  the  room  is  no  less  difficult  than  a  graceful 
close  to  a  letter;  but  both  can  be  taught. 

Even  if  we  have  secured  a  reasonable  degree  of  ease  in  certain 
parts  of  the  letter,  we  are  confronted  with  a  task,  beside  which 
the  former  becomes  insignificant.  The  body  of  the  letter  may 
be  made  correct  in  outline  and  in  sequence  but  it  is  generally 
couched  in  language  absolutely  different  from  the  colloquial 
usage  of  the  children.  Kipling's  Judy  in  "Baa  Baa,  Black 
Sheep,"  is  a  good  type  of  the  priggishness  that  we  meet  with. 
Much  of  this  we  can  reform  if  we  are  but  careful  to  have  the 
children  write  on  topics  within  their  natural  interests.    When 


LETTER  WRITING  165 

this  has  been  done,  the  rest  of  the  cure  lies  in  changing  our 
method  of  using  the  models. 

There  are  certain  limitations  to  be  observed  in  the  application 
of  the  studio  or  laboratory  method  to  the  study  of  model  letters. 
At  this  point  we  shall  not  go  so  far  as  to  say  dogmatically  that 
these  limitations  are  equally  applicable  to  the  study  of  models 
of  description,  narration,  and  exposition.  It  is  possible,  however, 
that  the  principle  upon  which  our  criticism  is  founded  may 
be  basic  although  the  mode  of  its  interpretation  may  differ  in 
the  various  forms  of  composition.  In  the  present  connection  it 
will  be  sufficient  to  say  that  the  change  in  the  mode  of  study, 
which  should  be  inaugurated  with  the  seventh  year,  will  be 
along  the  Une  of  the  kind  of  study  that  is  suggested  here  in 
connection  with  letter  writing. 

It  cannot  be  too  often  repeated  that  if  we  are  to  achieve  any 
degree  of  success  in  our  teaching,  we  must  be  careful  to  make 
the  center  of  our  method  the  natural  interests  of  the  pupils, 
and  the  lines  of  our  methods  their  natural  activities.  What  is 
our  present  mode  of  procedure?  The  teacher  announces  to 
the  class  that  she  intends  to  begin  an  exercise  in  composition. 
She  begins  the  study  of  a  model  which  may  or  may  not  treat 
of  a  topic  closely  akin  to  the  pupils'  interests.  In  other  words, 
she  chokes  originality  by  the  first  step  of  her  method.  She 
places  the  thought  and  work  of  another  between  the  thought 
of  the  pupils  and  its  adequate  expression.  It  is  true  that  this 
method  insures  the  production  of  exercises  of  a  definite  form. 
The  improvement  over  the  former  rambling,  incoherent,  chaotic 
composition  is  so  great  that  we  must  recognize  the  benefit 
accruing  from  the  study  of  models.  But  cannot  these  advan- 
tages be  secured  without  spreading  a  deadening  influence  over 
the  work  of  the  pupils?  What  wonder  is  it  that  the  letters  are 
lifeless?  At  no  time  is  opportunity  afforded  for  the  absolutely 
free  thinking  of  the  pupils.  We  make  a  strong  appeal  to  their 
imitative  faculty,  and  yet  we  wonder  why  the  imitation  is 


1 66  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

not  original.  The  method  involves  an  inherent  contradiction. 
We  study  the  model  only  so  as  to  insure  accuracy  of  form,  yet 
we  plan  the  time  for  such  study  so  that  we  mold  not  only  the 
form  but  the  content  as  well. 

In  favor  of  the  method  here  suggested,  certain  arguments 
may  be  presented.  It  will  be  noted  that  it  springs  from  the 
natural  interests  of  the  children.  Its  successive  steps  are 
responses  to  demands  arising  from  the  children's  needs.  At 
the  outset  no  attempt  is  made  to  consider  form.  Since  the 
quantity  of  attention  at  any  moment  is  limited,  if  we  are  to 
permit  and  to  encourage  the  free  expression  of  thought,  there 
must  be  no  check  on  the  pupil's  thinking.  No  model  is  to  be 
presented  nor  should  anything  be  said  by  the  teacher  which 
will  divert  attention  from  the  matter  at  hand;  namely,  the  free 
expression  of  individual  thinking. 

The  topic  of  the  letter  may  be  selected  from  the  work  of 
the  class,  provided  there  is  something  so  interesting  that  the 
children  feel  a  desire  to  communicate  their  experiences  to 
others.  Suggestions  as  to  what  these  topics  should  be,  if  we 
are  to  provide  for  a  gradual  increase  in  difficulty,  have  already 
been  made  in  our  analysis  of  models  for  letter  writing.  It  is 
to  be  remembered  that  all  hints  which  have  already  been  given 
as  to  the  method  of  studying  the  models  in  the  class  apply  to 
the  other  forms  of  composition  writing,  and  not  to  letter  writing. 
The  modification  that  is  here  introduced  is  for  the  purpose  of 
securing  the  spontaneity  which,  as  has  already  been  explained, 
is  so  vital  a  part  of  successful  work. 

Subjects  should  be  concrete  and  specific,  not  a  general  account 
of  progress  in  school  work,  except  perhaps  at  the  close  of  the 
term  when  the  amount  of  ground  covered  and  the  readiness  for 
promotion  are  prominent  factors  in  the  child's  thinking  about 
school  affairs.  By  concrete  and  specific  subjects  are  meant, 
such  as  an  account  of  an  interesting  experiment  in  physics; 
the  experiences  of  the  children  in  class  room  gardening;    a 


LETTER  WRITING  167 

report  on  an  interesting  discussion  in  history  or  geography; 
how  a  difficult  problem  in  arithmetic  was  solved,  let  us  say, 
by  only  one  member  of  the  class;  how  the  district  athletic 
meet  or  the  school  athletic  meet  was  decided;  the  writer's 
opinion  of  a  book  or  a  story  read  in  the  class-room,  together 
with  advice  to  read  the  same  story  if  the  letter  is  written  to  a 
classmate;  or  a  request  for  the  title  of  a  similar  book  if  the 
letter  is  written  to  a  teacher.  A  little  thought  will  develop 
many  similar  subjects.  After  a  holiday  of  any  sort,  the  letter 
may  be  written  on  how  the  day  was  spent.  A  long  vacation 
gives  opportunity  for  writing  descriptions  of  places  or  of  people, 
or  narrations  of  various  kinds. 

The  teacher  here  should  always  be  on  guard  to  see  that  the 
pupils  are  treating  of  real  and  not  of  imaginary  experiences. 
A  simple  warning  to  the  class  should  be  sufficient  to  prevent 
romancing.  It  is  of  no  value  to  have  the  child  write  on  the 
subject,  "How  I  Spent  my  Vacation,"  or  any  other  similar 
topic  of  a  general  nature.  Let  the  subject  be  definite  and  to 
the  point,  and  have  the  children  select  some  incident  interest- 
ing to  themselves,  and  likely  to  be  interesting  to  others,  which 
will  admit  of  expansion.  A  successful  letter  is  detailed  and 
intimate. 

With  a  subject  properly  chosen,  the  most  difficult  part  of  the 
teacher's  work  is  done.  The  next  step  to  take  in  order  to  get 
the  effect  of  realism  is  to  provide  some  system  of  actual  cor- 
respondence. Members  of  one  division  of  a  sixth  year  class, 
for  example,  may  write  to  the  children  of  a  different  division. 
If  a  letter  of  invitation  is  to  be  written,  the  many  athletic 
contests  between  different  schools  may  be  made  the  occasion 
of  a  real  correspondence.  A  fifth  year  class  may  invite  a  class 
of  another  school  to  be  present  at  the  game,  and  as  incentive, 
the  teacher  may  announce  that  the  best  letter  will  actually  be 
sent.  Surely,  principals  in  the  same  or  in  different  districts 
jnay  arrange  some  plan  of  correspondence  by  schools.    If  a 


1 68  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

book  is  to  be  bought  for  the  class  hbrary,  why  should  not  the 
children  be  called  upon  to  write  the  letter?  Once  more,  the 
best  letter  could  be  sent,  and  when  the  book  is  received,  a  letter 
of  receipt  and  acknowledgment  may  be  composed. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  with  a  real  motive  there  will  be 
far  better  results  than  if  the  work  is  done  in  a  perfunctory 
way.  Have  the  pupils  of  one  class  write  to  individual  pupils 
of  another  class.  The  letters  may  be  enclosed  in  regular  enve- 
lopes and  sent  through  the  regular  mail  box  of  the  school.  Where 
there  is  an  interchange  of  letters  by  the  pupils  of  different 
schools,  the  teacher  of  the  corresponding  classes  should  be  fur- 
nished with  a  Hst  of  the  register  together  with  the  addresses  of 
the  boys  of  the  other  class.  This  will  give  an  intimate  tone  to 
the  letter.  If  there  has  been  a  lecture  or  an  entertainment  of 
any  sort  in  the  school,  let  the  class  write  to  the  lecturer.  All 
challenges  between  classes  should  be  made  through  the  medium 
of  regular  letters  written  as  a  class  exercise.  In  sending  to 
the  National  or  the  State  government  for  any  material  which 
the  class  may  need  for  its  work  in  geography  or  in  nature  study, 
write  the  letter  as  a  class  exercise. 

Practice  should  be  given  in  addressing  envelopes.  For  this 
purpose,  paper  cut  down  to  the  right  size  will  answer  the  pur- 
pose of  the  real  envelopes  and  will  be  much  more  economical. 
A  great  deal  of  this  informal  letter  writing  can  be  done  before 
nine  o'clock,  or  at  home,  and  in  this  way  the  regularly  planned 
work  in  letter  writing  will  not  be  seriously  interfered  with. 

By  the  choice  of  the  proper  subject  and  a  knowledge  of  the 
practical  end  which  the  letter  is  to  serve,  the  teacher  should 
have  brought  the  class  to  a  state  where  it  is  eager  to  get  to  work; 
but  we  are  still  far  from  the  actual  composition  of  the  letter. 
The  next  step  in  the  lesson  should  be  the  conversation  between 
the  teacher  and  class  for  the  purpose  of  bringing  out  what  the 
letter  should  contain.  As  the  important  points  are  given  by 
different  members  of  the  class,  pupils  may  go  to  the  blackboard 


LETTER  WRITING  169 

and  briefly  write  out  their  own  contributions.  The  minds  of 
the  children  are  now  keenly  alive,  and  no  attention  should  be 
wasted  on  order  or  form.  What  we  are  here  developing  is  really 
the  body  of  the  letter;  five  minutes  should  be  sufficient  to  bring 
out  all  that  is  necessary  for  the  exercise.  Then  the  attention 
of  the  class  should  be  directed  to  the  list  of  topics  on  the  black- 
board, and  another  five  minutes  should  be  given  to  enable  the 
class  so  to  number  the  statements  that  the  sequence  of  ideas 
will  be  orderly  and  definite. 

The  remaining  part  of  the  period  should  be  devoted  to  the 
writing  of  the  letter.  It  is  assumed  that  even  in  the  lowest 
grade,  that  is,  in  the  first  half  of  the  fourth  year,  the  mechanical 
placing  of  the  different  parts  of  the  letter  has  been  taught. 
The  ordinary  composition  paper  is  not  to  be  used  in  this  exer- 
cise at  all.  As  soon  as  possible  the  ruled  margin  should  be 
dispensed  with.  The  teacher  should  get  paper  of  foolscap 
size  and  cut  it  down  to  the  proportions  of  ordinary  note  paper. 

Up  to  this  point,  we  have  had  free  thought  and  free  expres- 
sion. The  letter  will  show  many  errors,  the  style  may  not  be 
fitted  to  the  general  tone  of  the  letter,  the  opening  and  the  clos- 
ing of  the  letter  may  be  models  of  what  should  be  avoided,  but 
at  all  events  we  have  the  pupil's  own  work,  the  expression  of  his 
own  ideas.  It  may  be  well  to  use  the  few  minutes  at  the  end 
of  the  period  for  pupils  to  read  their  letters  to  the  class.  Those 
should  be  selected  who  have  acquitted  themselves  most  cred- 
itably in  earlier  composition  work,  so  that  the  right  to  read 
the  composition  comes  to  be  recognized  as  a  reward  given  for 
good  work. 

At  the  second  lesson,  which  should  occur  within  the  same 
week  as  the  period  devoted  to  the  first  composition  of  the  letter, 
the  pupils  should  take  their  letters  from  the  envelopes  in  which 
all  their  written  compositions  are  kept,  and  now  for  the  first 
time,  the  model  is  presented  to  the  class.  The  general  principle 
for  study  is  that  the  model  shall  be  considered,  not  for  purposes 


I70  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

of  slavish  imitation  from  the  very  beginning,  but  only  for  com- 
parison and  correction. 

There  are  three  points  to  which  the  attention  of  the  class  is 
to  be  directed.  In  the  first  place,  there  should  be  comparison 
with  the  model  for  the  purpose  of  detecting  errors  in  the  mechan- 
ical placing  of  the  various  parts.  Is  the  heading  right?  Are 
the  punctuation  marks  properly  used?  Do  paragraphs  begin  as 
they  should?  —  etc.  It  will  therefore  be  seen  that  the  model 
which  is  presented  to  the  child  should  be  carefully  prepared, 
and  that  it  should  be  correct  in  all  small  matters  of  form. 

A  second  study  of  the  model  should  center  on  the  introduction 
and  the  conclusion.  Continued  study  of  letters  will  show  that 
the  importance  of  the  introduction  decreases  in  proportion  as 
the  tone  of  the  letter  becomes  more  and  more  informal.  Here, 
as  with  all  study  of  the  models,  it  should  be  remembered  that 
it  is  not  sufficient  to  have  only  one  model  presented  to  the 
children.  Types  of  various  kinds  of  openings  and  endings  may 
be  shown  and  wherever  the  pupils  make  corrections  in  their 
work,  these  should  be  made  with  the  view  of  imitating  not  the 
words  of  the  model  but  the  spirit. 

Finally,  the  model  should  be  studied  with  the  closest  atten- 
tion to  the  body  of  the  letter.  If  what  has  been  said  regarding 
the  choice  of  models  has  been  followed,  the  letter  in  the  hands 
of  the  pupils  should  have  been  so  chosen  that  it  deals  with  a 
subject  allied  to  that  on  which  they  have  already  written. 
The  rest  of  the  period  should  be  devoted  to  a  description  of 
the  merits  of  the  model.  Different  children  should  be  called 
upon  to  read  what  they  have  written,  and  class  criticism  should 
follow.  Some  pupils  should  be  called  upon  to  write  their  letter 
on  the  blackboard,  and  the  entire  class  should  turn  itself  to  the 
correction  of  the  work.  Finally,  the  lesson  should  be  concluded 
with  about  ten  minutes  devoted  to  personal  correction.  Each 
child  revises  his  own  work,  so  that  while  it  shall  still  preserve 
his  own  thought,  it  will  be  made  as  nearly  as  possible  like  the 


LETTER  WRITING  171 

model  in  form.  During  this  concluding  portion  of  the  period, 
the  teacher  may  walk  around  the  room  and  by  judiciously 
scattering  her  criticism,  may  manage  to  reach  practically  every 
member  of  the  class,  directly  or  indirectly,  with  at  least  one 
point  of  suggestion. 

It  may  be  objected  that  children  in  the  lower  classes  can  not 
be  called  upon  to  exercise  the  critical  faculty  which  apparently 
is  demanded  in  this  method.  It  should  be  remembered,  how- 
ever, that  at  the  beginning  all  the  work  is  carried  on  under  the 
immediate  guidance  and  supervision  of  the  teacher.  Surely, 
we  are  asking  no  more  of  the  children  than  we  demand  of  them 
in  a  proper  appreciation  of  the  model.  We  have  eliminated 
an  uninteresting  reproduction  of  the  model,  and  we  have  kept 
close  to  the  child's  own  interest.  At  no  time  has  the  model 
been  studied  purely  for  form.  The  motive  for  the  study  has 
been  furnished  in  the  desire  on  the  part  of  the  pupil  to  find  out 
how  he  may  improve  his  own  work.  At  the  same  moment  that 
he  sees  his  faults,  there  is  before  him  a  model  which  shows  him 
a  correct  form. 

The  lesson  is  completed  in  a  third  period  when  the  letter  is 
written,  ready  for  sending.  The  teacher  should  be  careful  that 
instruction  is  given  as  to  the  proper  folding  of  the  letter,  the 
addressing  of  the  envelope,  and  the  placing  of  the  stamp. 
Since  these  are  purely  formal  elements,  they  should  be  made 
part  of  a  separate  lesson,  and  the  class  should  use  either  real 
envelopes  or  else  paper  cut  down  to  the  proper  size. 

A  number  of  suggested  models  are  here  given.  In  the  selec- 
tion of  other  letters  to  be  read  by  the  teacher  to  the  class, 
care  should  be  taken  that  there  is  a  progressive  advance  in  the 
models.  Even  in  the  higher  grades,  models  which  are  too  long 
should  be  avoided.  It  would  perhaps  be  too  much  to  say  that 
no  models  should  be  used  exceeding  in  length  the  letters  we 
demand  from  the  children.  It  may  be  safer  to  say  that  the 
limit  should  be  the  power  of  the  children  to  retain  a  unitary 


172  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

impression  of  the  letter  while  still  carrying  on  the  process  of 
analysis.  If  the  model  is  too  long,  the  pupils  think  of  it  not  as 
a  letter  but  as  an  agglomeration  of  parts.  In  the  lower  grades, 
if  any  extreme  is  to  be  touched  it  should  be  on  the  side  of  over- 
simplicity. 

Letters  should  be  short,  and  care  should  be  taken  with  the 
writing.  It  is  never  too  early  to  impress  on  children  the  truth 
that  a  carelessly  written  letter  is  an  affront  offered  to  the  reader. 
In  our  letters  we  talk  to  our  friends,  and  if  we  are  slovenly  in 
our  writing,  we  might  as  well  call  on  them,  untidy  in  appear- 
ance. It  should  be  remembered  that  though  correlation  of  the 
topics  of  the  letters  with  the  work  of  the  class  is  desirable, 
such  a  relationship  should  be  made  only  when  we  are  sure  of 
the  children's  interest  in  the  topic.  Only  in  a  few  cases  do  the 
models  here  given  show  the  heading,  and  frequently  they  do 
not  give  the  salutation.  These  are  purely  formal  elements,  and 
while  the  motive  for  the  study  of  these  forms  should  come 
through  the  desire  of  the  children  to  write  letters,  there  is  no 
reason  why  these  subjects  should  not  be  taken  up  as  early  as 
the  third  year  when  the  children  are  copying  letters  from  black- 
board or  from  text  book.  The  more  complicated  forms  of 
headings  may  be  taught  in  the  later  grades,  but  in  general,  the 
plan  should  be  the  same;  salutations,  headings,  and  subscrip- 
tions are  all  formal  elements  and  should  be  focalized  upon  by 
the  teacher  in  the  course  of  the  regular  work.  Some  suggestions 
as  to  the  technique  of  letter  writing  are  given  here  although  it 
will  be  found  best  to  refer  to  some  regular  text  book  in  the 
writing  of  English. 

The  heading  of  a  letter  gives  us  two  separate  pieces  of  informa- 
tion. First,  it  shows  the  place  from  which  the  letter  is  sent. 
Secondly,  the  time  at  which  the  letter  is  written.  These  should 
be  kept  distinct.  In  the  third  year,  the  first  lessons  in  letter 
writing  may  be  given.  These  should  not  be  allowed  to  degen- 
erate into  mere  exercises  in  penmanship.    When  the  model  has 


LETTER  WRITING  173 

first  been  copied  by  the  children,  the  letter  may  at  a  later 
period  be  dictated  by  the  teacher,  who  should  at  all  times  call 
the  attention  of  the  class  to  the  placing  of  the  parts,  the  capi- 
taUzation,  the  paragraphing,  and  the  punctuation.  After  a  few 
lessons  the  dictation  may  become  less  definite.  For  example, 
—  "We  are  going  to  write  from  a  house  at  258  East  56th  St. 
Write  the  place  and  the  date.  This  letter  is  to  be  written  to 
your  cousin."  The  child's  memory  and  knowledge  of  form 
should  help  him  to  fill  in  the  gaps.  Before  the  first  letter  is 
written,  there  should  be  exercise  and  drill  on  headings  and  salu- 
tations apart  from  the  letter  itself.  Examples  of  these  letters 
used  as  models  in  the  third  year  are  given  here.  In  the  first 
half  of  the  year  the  model  may  be  limited  to  one  paragraph. 
In  the  second  half,  it  may  contain  two. 

Third  Year  —  First  Half 

Dear  Cousin, 

Did  you  watch  at  the  window  this  morning?  I  almost 
cried  when  I  saw  the  rain  and  knew  I  could  not  go  to  your 
house.  Will  you  be  home  next  Saturday?  Love  and  kisses 
to  all. 

Dear  Harry, 

You  ought  to  see  how  the  beans  I  planted  have  grown. 
Did  you  ever  plant  any?  The  onion  that  you  saw  is  all 
dried  up.     Can  you  tell  me  why? 

Dear  Friend, 

When  you  did  not  come  last  week  I  thought  you  were 
sick.  Why  did  you  not  write  me  a  letter?  I  waited  for 
you  all  day.    When  shall  you  be  in  New  York  again? 

Dear  Frank, 

What  fun  we  had  in  school  to-day!  A  boy  brought  a 
rabbit  and  we  gave  it  green  leaves  to  eat.  Did  you  ever 
see  a  gray  rabbit?    I  saw  one  yesterday. 


174  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

Dear  Mother, 

We  have  had  a  fine  time  this  week.  I  went  driving 
with  Uncle  John  and  the  horses  went  so  fast  I  was  fright- 
ened. But  Uncle  only  laughed  at  me.  When  will  you 
come  here?    I  pray  for  you  every  night. 

Third  Year  —  Second  Half 
Dear  Father, 

The  books  which  you  sent  me  came  here  this  morning. 
Thank  you  very  much  for  them. 

It  has  been  raining  since  two  o'clock.  As  I  could  not 
go  out  I  looked  at  the  books.  I  did  not  read  any  but  I 
think  I  shall  like  them.    Will  you  come  here  soon? 

Dear  Friend, 

How  does  it  feel  to  be  ten  years  old?  I  have  been 
that  age  for  two  months  and  I  feel  just  the  same.  I  wish 
you  many  more  happy  years. 

Please  write  me  soon  and  tell  me  what  kind  of  birth- 
day party  you  had.  Did  you  receive  many  presents? 
Don't  you  wish  birthdays  came  every  week  instead  of  every 
year? 

Dear  Mr.  Brown, 

Papa  told  me  this  morning  that  you  had  sent  me  the 
beautiful  sled  which  I  found  near  my  bed  when  I  got  up. 
I  want  to  thank  you  very  much  for  it.    It  is  beautiful. 

I  hope  it  will  snow  soon  so  that  I  can  use  the  sled.  The 
first  time  I  take  it  out  I  am  going  to  give  my  little  brother 
a  ride  because  his  first  name  is  the  same  as  yours. 

Dear  Frank, 

We  began  a  new  story  in  the  class  yesterday.  I  like 
it  very  much  and  think  you  will  like  it  too.  The  name  of 
the  story  is,  "At  the  Back  of  the  North  Wind." 

Our  teacher  reads  to  us  and  we  all  sit  and  listen.  If 
your  mother  reads  it  to  you,  you  can  make  beUeve  you 


LETTER  WRITING  175 

are  in  school  even  though  you  are  sick.    I  hope  you  will 
get  well  soon. 

Dear  Rose, 

Mamma  is  going  to  let  me  have  a  real  doll-party  next 
Saturday. 

Will  you  come  early  and  bring  your  best  doll  with  you? 
I  want  you  to  come  early  because  I  need  you  to  help  me  to 
fix  some  things  for  the  other  girls. 

Up  to  this  point  there  has  been  no  original  composition  work 
by  the  children.  They  have  merely  copied  the  letters,  or  written 
them  from  dictation.  In  the  fourth  year,  the  regular  study  of 
the  model  according  to  the  method  already  suggested  is  to  begin. 
It  will  be  noted  that  in  the  model  for  the  first  half  of  the  fourth 
year  the  name  of  the  city  is  written  on  a  separate  line.  While 
this  form  will  at  once  be  recognized  as  different  from  that  con- 
ventionally used,  there  is  no  reason  why  it  should  not  be  adopted 
in  the  schools.  To  a  great  extent  of  course,  convention  will 
determine  usage;  and  yet  it  should  be  one  of  the  functions 
of  the  school  to  try  to  introduce  reform.  If  we  are  writing  to 
some  one  in  the  city,  the  words  "New  York"  may  be  omitted, 
and  then  a  comma  is  placed  after  the  word  "Street."  Other- 
wise, as  will  be  seen,  no  punctuation  separates  the  two 
lines  forming  the  address  in  the  heading.  It  is  probably 
better  not  to  use  abbreviations.  The  date  should  be  writ- 
ten as  a  cardinal  not  as  an  ordinal  number.  The  three  lines 
forming  the  heading  should  be  so  arranged  that  they  end  flush 
at  the  right  hand  side  of  the  page.  In  the  salutation,  the 
comma  may  be  used  in  informal  letters,  and  the  colon  in 
formal  letters. 

The  teacher  should  call  the  attention  of  the  class  to  the 
capitalization  in  the  following  forms:  Dear  Father,  Dear  Friend ^ 
Dear  Uncle  John,  My  dear  Frank,  My  dear  Mr.  Brown.  The 
form,  Dear  friend  John  has  been  called  by  some  authorities 


176  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

not  a  true  English  idiom,  and  should  be  avoided;  instead,  use 
either  Dear  Friend  or  Dear  John. 

The  forms  of  conclusion  should  be  taught  at  the  same  time 
that  the  salutations  are  studied,  so  as  to  impress  on  the  class 
the  fact  that  certain  salutations  carry  with  them  inevitably 
certain  forms  of  subscription.  The  rule,  and  it  is  without  excep- 
tion, is  that  only  the  first  word  of  the  subscription  is  written 
with  a  capital.  The  model  advisedly  gives  the  full  name  of 
the  writer  even  in  a  letter  written  to  the  father.  It  is  a  good 
thing  to  impress  on  the  children  the  business-like  habit  of  placing 
their  name  in  full  at  the  close  of  a  letter.  The  more  informal 
closings  will  come  naturally  to  them,  and  need  form  no  part  of 
the  instruction  in  the  school. 

It  will  also  be  noted  that  an  effort  has  been  made  to  do  away 
with  the  usual  participial  phrase  which  from  time  immemorial 
has  been  the  closing  part  of  a  letter.  The  object  is  to  avoid 
the  indiscriminate  *'By  so  doing  you  will  oblige,"  form,  which 
constitutes  a  humorous  element  in  many  school  letters.  It  is 
not  intended  that  the  participial  phrase  shall  never  be  used. 
The  aim  is  to  teach  that  there  are  other  ways  of  closing  a  letter. 

In  the  study  of  the  model  for  the  first  half  of  the  fifth  year, 
the  teacher  should  impress  on  the  class  that  it  is  bad  form  to 
sound  one's  praises  too  much  in  an  appHcation  for  a  position. 
Furthermore,  wherever  possible,  a  specific  reason  for  seeking  a 
position  should  be  given.  The  second  sentence  of  the  first 
paragraph  does  this.  Call  the  attention  of  the  class  also  to  the 
brevity,  the  directness,  and  the  general  business-like  character 
of  the  letter.  Business  men  like  directness.  Many  a  man 
writes  a  long  letter  because  he  has  not  the  time  to  write  a  short 
one.    Explain  this  to  the  class. 

In  addition  to  the  models  that  are  to  be  studied,  others, 
which  may  be  read  by  the  teacher  to  the  class  are  also  given. 


LETTER  WRITING  177 

Fourth  Year  —  First  Half 

108  Broome  Street,  New  York, 
Dear  Father,  March  3,  1913. 

You  are  so  far  away  that  I  am  afraid  you  didn't  hear 
the  good  news.  Both  Bobbie  and  I  are  going  to  be  pro- 
moted. 

Miss  Brown  says  a  few  other  boys  and  I  are  to  try  the 
5 A  class.    Won't  that  be  splendid? 

Mother  is  very  much  pleased.  She  says  she  has  a 
pleasant  surprise  for  me  when  you  come  home.  So  please 
hurry  with  that  business  and  take  the  fastest  train  you  can 

^^-  Your  loving  son, 

Charles  Price. 
My  dear  Miss  Brown, 

The  stories  about  Hiawatha  that  you  read  to  us  are 
very  interesting.    I  was  always  sorry  when  you  finished. 

Will  you  please  send  me  the  names  of  other  books  in 
which  I  can  read  about  the  rest  of  Hiawatha's  life?  I  en- 
close a  stamp.     I  hope  I  am  not  troubling  you  too  much. 

Your  affectionate  pupil, 
My  dear  Miss  Brown, 

I  have  been  very  sick  for  three  weeks  and  I  do  not 
think  I  can  come  back  to  school  for  a  month. 

If  I  am  not  asking  too  much  will  you  please  send  me 

the  names  of  some  good  books  to  read?    It  is  very  lonely 

here  sometimes.    I  should  Uke  some  book  Hke  "Alice  in 

Wonderland."  ,,  „     , 

Yours  affectionately, 

Dear  Frank, 

Our  school  is  going  to  play  Public  School  76  a  game 
of  basketball  next  Friday  afternoon.  The  game  will  take 
place  in  our  gymnasium  at  half-past  three  o'clock. 

Will  you  ask  your  mother  whether  you  may  come? 
Mamma  says  you  are  to  stay  with  us  for  supper  and  Tom 
will  take  you  home.  Please  write  soon  saying  that  you 
wiU  come.  Yours  truly, 


178  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

Good  Ground,  L.I., 
July  8,  1913. 
Dear  Mother  ^ 

We  arrived  here  at  ten  o'clock  this  morning.  It  was 
very  dusty  on  the  trains.  I  looked  as  black  as  coal  when 
I  reached  the  house. 

In  the  afternoon  I  went  with  Fred  to  the  field  and 
watched  the  men  digging  potatoes.  The  earth  has  a  very 
pleasant  smell.    We  saw  a  great  number  of  worms.    Love 

Your  affectionate  son, 

Dear  Uncle, 

Promotion  time  is  almost  here  and  all  the  boys  are 
excited.  Next  week  we  shall  be  examined  by  the  Prin- 
cipal. 

I  think  I  shall  be  promoted.    I  have  always  had  "A" 

on  my  report  cards.    That  means  "Excellent"  you  know. 

But  I  am  going  to  make  sure  and  I  shall  do  my  best  next 

week.    Love  to  Aunt  Mary.  _^        .     .  , 

Your  lovmg  nephew, 

Fourth  Year  —  Second  Half 

108  Broome  Street,  New  York, 
March  3,  19 14. 
Dear  Harry, 

Bobbie  told  me  this  morning  that  you  are  in  bed  with 
a  heavy  cold.  I  am  very  sorry.  I  hope  the  doctor  is 
not  making  you  take  some  awful  medicine. 

The  class  exercises  were  very  successful.  The  song 
went  splendidly,  although  we  missed  your  voice.  Every- 
body was  very  much  pleased  with  the  Indian  Club  drill. 

Do  not  worry  about  the  lessons.  I'll  copy  the  spell- 
ing for  you  and  help  you  out  with  any  new  arithmetic  we 

have.  c"         1 

Smcerely  yours, 

Charles  Price. 


LETTER  WRITING  179 

Fewer  models  are  added  here  to  be  read  by  the  teacher  to 
the  class  since  it  should  be  the  aim  to  devote  more  time  to  the 
study  of  the  outline. 

438  SEC0^fD  Avenue. 
My  dear  Fred, 

The  boys  of  our  class  are  to  play  a  game  of  football 
with  the  team  from  Class  5A  on  Saturday  next.  If  you 
want  to  have  a  good  time,  see  the  game. 

Please  do  not  say  you  are  too  busy.    If  you  like,  I 

will  call  for  you  on  my  way  to  Central  Park,  where  the 

game  will  take  place.  ,,. 

Yours  as  ever, 

November  18,  19 14. 

Dear  Harry, 

Why  must  your  class  have  a  football  game  on  the 
same  day  that  our  class  is  going  to  the  Aquarium?  We 
have  been  planning  our  trip  for  several  weeks,  and  I  am 
afraid  I  cannot  go  with  you  to  the  Park. 

If  it  rains  on  Saturday  I  suppose  your  game  will  be 
postponed;  then  I  shall  wait  for  you  until  half -past  nine. 
Do  not  fail  to  come  with  us  if  you  do  not  go  to  the  game. 
I  have  spoken  to  Miss  Brown,  my  teacher,  about  you,  and 
she  will  be  very  glad  to  have  you  come. 

Dear  Uncle, 

We  have  just  received  our  report  cards  for  the  month, 
and  I  thought  you  would  be  glad  to  hear  that  I  received 
"A"  in  my  work.  You  know  this  is  the  first  time  my 
card  had  nothing  but  "A"  on  it. 

I  find  that  my  lessons  are  not  so  difficult  as  I  thought 
they  would  be.  I  have  plenty  of  time  to  play  and  still  do 
my  written  work  very  neatly.     Love  and  kisses  from  all. 

Your  affectionate  nephew, 


i8o  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

Fifth  Year  —  First  Half 

The  indention  used  in  the  model  in  these  cases  should  be 
carefully  followed.  Further,  it  will  be  noted  that  when  the 
salutation  takes  the  pen  well  across  the  page,  the  words  "Dear 
Sir"  are  written  not  under  the  state  or  city  name,  but  well 
over  to  the  left  at  the  margin.  If  this  is  not  done  the  letter 
will  look  patchy,  with  but  one  word  at  times  on  the  first  line 
of  the  body  of  the  letter. 

io8  Broome  Street,  New  York, 
March  3,  1913. 
Messrs.  Abraham  &  Strauss, 

Fulton  Street,  Brooklyn,  N.Y. 
Gentlemen, 

I  am  a  graduate  of  Public  School  20,  and  I  am  anxious 
to  secure  employment  in  some  good  house.  I  respect- 
fully make  application  for  a  position  with  your  firm  in 
order  to  gain  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  dry  goods  trade. 
I  am  fourteen  years  of  age  and  I  can  furnish  recom- 
mendations from  Mr.  Brown,  the  Principal  of  Public 
School  20,  from  which  I  was  graduated  last  February. 

Very  respectfully, 
John  Mason. 

Models  to  be  read  by  the  Teacher 

Dear  Frank, 

I  have  just  returned  from  my  first  ride  in  the  Subway, 
and  I  am  sure  you  will  hke  to  know  what  I  think  of  it. 

The  cars  run  under  ground  and  are  therefore  lighted 
all  the  time.  They  look  bright  and  clean  and  all  the  metal 
work  sparkles  as  if  it  were  just  polished. 

The  trains  move  very  quickly,  but  except  for  the  sta- 
tions nothing  can  be  seen.  I  tried  to  look  out  of  the  win- 
dow, but  my  eyes  hurt  because  of  the  pillars  which  are 
close  together  and  very  near  the  tracks. 


LETTER  WRITING  i8i 

At  first  I  thought  the  noise  was  going  to  give  me  a 
headache.  But  in  a  few  minutes  I  became  used  to  the 
rumble  and  did  not  mind  it. 

I  hope  you  will  come  to  the  city  soon,  so  that  we  can 
take  a  ride  together,  the  whole  length  of  the  Subway. 

Yours  very  truly, 
Dear  Tom, 

You  ought  to  see  the  new  picture  my  mother  bought 
and  hung  up  in  my  room!  It  is  beautiful.  I  am  afraid 
I  cannot  study  my  lessons  at  my  desk  any  more.  I  always 
want  to  look  at  the  picture. 

I  do  not  know  who  the  painter  is,  but  the  name  of  the 
picture  is  "The  Storm."  It  shows  a  Uttle  fishing  vessel  out 
on  the  ocean.  The  waves  are  higher  than  the  boat  and  all 
white  with  foam.  I  think  there  must  have  been  a  terrible 
storm,  as  the  sky  is  black  with  clouds,  and  the  rain  is  fall- 
ing heavily. 

Do  you  remember  a  poem  by  Longfellow  about  a 
boat  wrecked  in  a  storm?  I  tried  to  think  of  the  name 
but  I  could  not  recall  it.  We  read  it  one  day  last  summer 
when  it  was  raining  so  hard  that  we  could  not  play.  If 
you  know  what  poem  I  mean  please  send  me  the  name,  as 
I  wish  to  read  the  story  while  I  sit  in  front  of  my  new  pic- 
ture. 

Yours  very  truly, 

Dear  Mother, 

I  am  a  real  cook!  When  I  come  home  I  am  going  to 
put  on  an  apron  and  do  all  the  work  in  the  kitchen.  Do 
you  want  to  know  what  I  made?  I  want  to  tell  you,  so  I 
hope  you  will  say  "Yes"  to  my  question. 

It  was  raining  yesterday,  and  Miss  Brown,  who  always 
shows  us  new  games,  asked  us  would  we  Hke  to  make 
"  fudge."  Of  course  we  all  shouted  "  Yes ! "  Then  we  went 
to  the  kitchen,  and  what  fun  we  had! 

We  took  about  two  cupfuls  of  sugar,  a  cup  of  milk 
and  a  lump  of  butter  about  the  size  of  an  egg.  We  put  all 
into  a  pot  together  with  seven  teaspoonfuls  of  cocoa,  and 


i82  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

placed  the  pot  on  the  stove.  I  did  not  help  in  this.  But 
when  the  mixture  began  to  boil  I  had  to  stir  it  for  about 
a  quarter  of  an  hour.  How  my  arms  ached!  And  I  had 
to  stand  so  close  to  the  stove  that  my  face  was  red  as  fire. 

When  my  work  was  through,  Mary  beat  the  brown  stuff 
a  little  and  poured  it  into  a  buttered  platter.  As  soon  as 
it  began  to  cool  Miss  Brown  cut  it  into  httle  squares. 

Then  we  all  went  into  the  parlor,  and  in  about  half  an 
hour,  while  we  were  singing.  Miss  Brown  brought  in  the 
platter,  and  we  had  a  grand  feast  of  "fudge."  I  wish  I 
could  send  you  some,  but  it  was  so  good  that  every  piece 
was  eaten  up,  even  the  crumbs. 

Your  affectionate  daughter, 
Dear  Father, 

I  think  when  you  get  back  to  New  York  you  will  be 
most  surprised  to  see  the  poHcemen  on  horseback  through- 
out the  city. 

Yesterday  I  went  to  Broadway  with  Jack.  I  saw  one 
of  the  poHcemen  at  Herald  Square.  His  horse  was  very 
beautiful,  and  the  officer  had  a  pretty  cap  instead  of  a  hel- 
met. 

I  saw  an  automobile  try  to  go  down  Broadway.  The 
officer  motioned  to  the  man,  who  then  turned  down  Thirty- 
fourth  Street.  Jack  told  me  they  do  this  so  that  the  people 
who  get  off  the  cars  can  cross  the  street  safely. 

I  am  feeling  well,  only  I  hope  you  will  soon  come 

back  to  XT-       1     • 

Your  loving  son, 

Fifth  Year  —  Second  Half 

1 08  Broome  Street,  New  York, 
March  3,  1914. 
Houghton,  Mifflin  and  Co., 

85  Fifth  Ave.,  New  York. 
Gentlemen, 

Please  send  me,  by  Adams  Express,  as  soon  as  possible, 
the  following: 


LETTER  WRITING  183 

2  doz.  Smith's  Intermediate  Arithmetic. 

3  copies  Longfellow's  Poems,  Household  Edition,  cloth. 
I  doz.  Whittier  Leaflets. 

1  set  Little  Classics,  16  volumes,  green  cloth. 

2  copies  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin.     Popular  Edition,  cloth. 
When  you  forward,  please  notify  me  by  letter,  enclos- 
ing invoice. 

Yours  respectfully, 

Edward  Reade. 


Models  to  be  read  by  the  Teacher 

D.  C.  Heath  &  Co., 

Gentlemen, 

Please  let  me  know  how  much  it  will  cost  to  get  by 
mail  a  copy  of  Heath's  Fourth  Reader.  Enclosed  please 
find  stamp  for  reply. 

I  hope  you  will  quote  your  lowest  price,  as  I  wish  to 
present  the  book  to  a  society  of  which  I  am  a  member. 

Yours  truly, 
D.  C.  Heath  &  Co., 
Gentlemen, 

I  am  very  sorry  that  I  must  trouble  you  about  such 
a  little  thing  as  one  copy  of  a  book.  But  the  Heath's 
Fourth  Reader  which  you  sent  is  soiled  at  page  38,  and  I 
should  like  to  have  a  clean  copy. 

I  hope  I  am  not  causing  much  trouble. 

Yours  respectfully, 
The  PREsroENT, 

Lincoln  Literary  Society. 
Dear  Sir, 

I  have  been  requested,  as  Secretary  of  the  "Lowell 
Reading  Circle,"  to  invite  your  society  to  be  present  at 
our  next  meeting,  Friday,  December  i6th,  at  half -past 
three. 

We  hold  our  meetings  in  Room  t,B>,  and  are  anxious 
to  have  our  friends  who  belong  to  other  societies  in  the 


i84  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

school  see  what  we  are  doing.    I  hope  your  society  will 
find  it  possible  to  be  present. 

Sincerely  yours, 

Henry  Franklin, 
Secretary. 

In  the  sixth  year  the  two  models  which  are  suggested  consti- 
tute a  communication  together  with  the  reply.  In  the  model 
presented  for  the  second  half  of  the  year,  we  have  given  the  only 
type  of  formal  letter  in  the  third  person  which  can  come  within 
'the  experience  of  an  average  class  of  boys.  It  is  absolutely 
necessary  to  make  these  letters  real  by  associating  the  writing 
with  some  actual  event  in  school  life. 


Sixth  Year  —  First  Half 

Public  School  34,  108  Broome  Street, 
February  13,  1914. 
The  President, 

Perseverance  Club. 
Dear  Sir, 

At  the  last  meeting  of  the  Everonward  Club,  upon  a 
vote  taken  by  its  members,  the  Secretary  |^as  instructed 
to  communicate  with  the  proper  official  of  the  Persever- 
ance Club,  challenging  it  to  a  debate. 

I  hereby  challenge  the  club  to  a  debate,  the  conditions 
to  be  decided  upon  by  joint  committees  appointed  by  each 
club. 

We  suggest  that  the  debate  be  held  in  the  Assembly 
HaU  on  Friday  afternoon  and  prefer  that  three  debaters 
be  on  each  side. 

We  hope  that  the  challenge  will  be  accepted. 

Sincerely  yours, 

George  Smith, 
Secretary. 


LETTER  WRITING  185 

Public  School  34,  108  Broome  Street, 
February  23,  19 14. 
The  Secretary, 

EVERONWARD   ClUB. 

Dear  Sir, 

I  hasten  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  your  communi- 
cation of  the  13th  inviting  us  to  meet  your  club  in  joint 
debate. 

After  placing  the  motion  before  the  club  at  its  meet- 
ing last  week,  we  decided  unanimously  to  accept  your  offer. 

A  committee  has  already  been  appointed  which  will 

meet  someone  designated  by  you  at  any  future  date  you 

may  select. 

Yours  smcerely, 

Jacob  Weiss, 

Secretary. 

The  members  of  the  Everonward  Club  extend  to  you 

and  yoiu:  friends  a  cordial  invitation  to  be  present  at  their 

joint  debate  with  the  Perseverance  Club  of  6B,  to  be  held 

in  the  Assembly  Hall  of  PubUc  School  34,  on  the  afternoon 

of  Friday,  March  eighteenth,  nineteen  hundred  fourteen, 

at  three  o'clock.  ^  _ 

Jacob  Reich, 

,,  T^  Secretary. 

Morris  Kline,  -^ 

President. 

Since  the  larger  part  of  the  letter  writing  of  this  year  includes 
business  communications,  applications  for  positions,  and  the 
like,  there  is  no  attempt  made  to  give  supplementary  models. 
These  may  be  found  in  any  of  the  text  books  on  grammar  or 
composition. 

In  the  seventh  and  eighth  years  the  letter  writing  should  of 
course  be  much  more  difficult  and  advanced.  As  has  already 
been  suggested,  at  this  point  an  effort  should  be  made  to  secure 
variety  and  naturalness  in  the  opening  and  the  closing  of  the 


1 86  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

letter.  Care  should  be  taken  that  the  models  here  presented 
are  used  according  to  the  method  described.  That  is  to  say, 
there  should  first  be  free  writing  by  the  children  themselves. 
No  attempt  is  made  in  our  presentation  of  the  models  to  pre- 
serve the  form  of  a  letter.  The  correct  placing  of  the  parts 
should  have  been  taught  in  the  earlier  classes.  It  will  be  noticed 
furthermore  that  we  have  for  the  most  part  used  selections  from 
standard  authors.  A  good  epistolary  style  is  an  accomplish- 
ment entirely  apart  from  a  generally  good  Uterary  style,  and 
the  former  is  much  more  rare  than  the  latter.  The  teacher's 
own  reading  will  supply  her  with  many  more  illustrations  than 
are  here  given. 

Models  of  Openings  of  Letters 

Many  thanks  for  your  letter.  It  rejoiced  me  to  hear  that  the 
dinner  over  which  you  presided  was  a  success,  as  it  ought  to  have 
been  with  you  at  the  head  of  the  table.  It  made  me  wish  I  could 
have  been  there;  but  I  was  quite  right  in  staying  at  home,  where  I 
had  a  good  deal  to  keep  me. 

—  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,  February  26,  1878. 

I  always  find  myself  in  a  little  hurry  when  I  sit  down  to  write 
—  partly  because  I  am  generally  pretty  busy,  and  partly  because 
I  always  put  off  writing  on  purpose  as  nearly  as  I  can  to  the  time  of 
the  packet's  leaving. 

—  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,  Paris,  October  22,  1833. 

I  am  unwilling  to  let  the  packet  go  without  taking  advantage 
of  it,  and  I  shall  therefore  send  you  a  few  lines,  the  principal  object 
of  which  is  to  let  you  know  that  I  am  well,  and  to  inquire  again  why 
I  hear  nothing  from  you.  If  the  post  has  done  its  duty  you  have 
received  more  than  a  dozen  letters  from  me,  and  I  have  not  had 
the  shadow  of  an  answer.  ...  If  I  could  only  have  news  from  home 
I  should  be  perfectly  contented. 

—  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,  Paris,  September  28,  1833. 


LETTER  WRITING  187 

I  begin  this  letter,  as  I  have  all  of  late,  with  a  complaint  of  not 
receiving  letters.  I  cannot  suppose  but  that  you  write,  and  am  en- 
tirely unable  to  understand  why  I  hear  nothing  from  you.  Although 
I  go  on  the  principle  of  not  worrying  myself,  I  confess  it  is  not  com- 
fortable to  be  so  long  without  one  word  from  home. 

—  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,  Paris,  August  30,  1833. 

You  told  me  that  I  need  not  read  the  book  which  you  have  sent 
me,  and  for  which  I  cordially  thank  you;  but  you  did  not  tell  me 
I  must  not  read  it.  Now  I  have  read  it,  every  word  of  it,  and  I 
wish  to  say  to  you  that  I  have  had  too  much  pleasure  in  reading  it 
to  be  denied  the  privilege  of  telUng  you  how  I  have  enjoyed  it. 

—  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,  December  8,  1869. 

You  cannot  imagine  how  delightful  it  is  out  here.  The  greatest 
multitude  of  birds  of  every  description  I  recollect  ever  to  have  seen. 
The  grass  is  fast  growing  green  under  the  kind  sun  of  spring.  Every 
day  that  the  sun  shines  I  take  my  book  and  go  out  to  a  bank  in  our 
garden  and  he  and  read. 

—  /.  R.  Lowell,  Cambridge,  April  14,  1837. 

I  have  no  particular  reason  for  dating  this  letter  as  I  have, 
except  that  i8th  sounds  as  well  as  anything  else,  for  I  have  no  idea 
of  the  true  day  of  the  month.  Since  I  have  been  in  Italy  I  have 
cared  nothing  about  calendars. 

—  /.  R.  Lowell,  Naples,  April  18,  1856. 

No  greeting  could  go  to  my  heart  straighter  than  yours,  and  yet 
I  have  let  all  these  days  shp  by  without  returning  it  —  not  a  day, 
though,  without  thinking  of  you,  and  meaning  to  write. 

—  /.  R.  Lowell,  Cambridge,  September  18,  1836. 

Thank  you  for  your  letters  —  especially  that  from  among  the 
dear  old  Adirondacks.  Though  written  in  pencil,  it  did  my  heart 
more  good  than  my  eyes  harm  —  only  it  made  me  homesick. 

—  /.  R.  Lowell,  Cambridge,  October  28,  1857. 


1 88  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

You  see  by  my  date  that  I  am  back  again  in  the  place  I  love 
best.     I  am  sitting  in  my  old  garret,  at  my  old  desk,  loving  my  old 

—  /.  R.  Lowell,  Elmwood,  March  ii,  1861. 

I  hope  you  will  come  hither  as  early  as  you  can,  for  it  will  be 
vacation,  and  I  can  see  more  of  you.  And  I  want  you  to  see  my 
trees  with  the  leaves  on  —  especially  my  English  elms.  I  hope  by 
the  middle  of  August  our  worst  heats  will  be  over,  for  they  begin 
early  this  year.     As  I  write  the  thermometer  is  92  degrees. 

—  /.  R.  Lowell,  Elmwood,  July  18,  1870. 

Parting  with  you  was  like  sajdng  good-by  to  sunshine.  After 
I  got  home,  my  study  looked  bare,  and  my  old  cronies  on  the  shelves 
could  not  make  up  to  me  for  my  old  loss.  I  sat  with  my  book  on 
my  knee  and  mused  with  a  queer  feeling  about  my  eyeHds  now  and 
then. 

—  /.  R.  Lowell,  to  Thomas  Hughes,  Elmwood,  October  18,  1870. 

I  have  been  so  busy  lately  with  doing  nothing  (which  on  the 
whole  demands  more  time,  patience  and  attention  than  any  other 
business)  that  I  have  failed  to  answer  your  very  pleasant  letter  of 
I  don't  know  how  long  ago. 

—  /.  R.  Lowell,  Paris,  May  28,  1873. 

I  have  suspended  my  thermometer  outside  of  the  window;  and, 
looking  at  it  a  moment  ago,  I  perceive  that  it  is  polar  weather  out  of 
doors.  Really,  an  excursion  into  the  country  is  not  to  be  thought 
of  in  this  first  fierceness  of  the  winter.  So  pray  do  not  expect  me 
to-morrow. 

—  Hawthorne  to  Longfellow,  Boston,  November  30,  1840. 

I  have  been  looking  for  a  letter  from  you  every  day.  Why  don't 
you  drop  me  a  line?  It  would  be  particularly  cheering  just  now.  I 
have  not  been  out  of  the  house  since  you  left  here.  Having  been 
much  indisposed  by  a  cold,  I  am  at  the  mercy  of  every  breath  of 
air  that  blows. 

—  Washington  Irving, 


LETTER  WRITING  189 

Models  of  Closing  of  Letters 

Well,  as  I  said,  I  must  be  off  to  the  hospital  and  try  to  find  some- 
thing more  interesting  for  the  next  time.     Love  to  all. 

—  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,  London,  July  25,  1834. 

I  shall  stop.  My  letters  are  crisp,  and  snap  short  off.  I  shall 
stop,  first  because  I  must  breakfast,  and,  second,  because  I  have  a 
milhon  of  things  to  do  afterwards.  Give  my  love  to  all,  and  excuse 
me  for  hurrying  to  the  Cafe  Procope. 

—  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,  Paris,  November  29,  1833. 


I  am  at  my  wit's,  paper's,  and  dayhght's  end,  and  am,  as  al- 

Your 
J.  R.  L. 


^^y^'  Your 


(Cambridge,  June  12,  i860.) 

"I  am  holding  'good-by'  at  arm's  length  as  long  as  I  can,  but  I 
must  come  to  it.  Give  my  kindest  regards  to  Rawlins,  and  take  all 
my  heart  yourself.  God  bless  you.  A  pleasant  voyage,  and  all  well 
in  the  nest  when  you  get  back  to  it. 

Always  most  affectionately  yours, 
J.  R.  Lowell. 
(To  Thomas  Hughes,  October  18,  1870.) 

The  following  examples  of  conclusions  from  Mendelssohn's 
letters  to  Moscheles  are  taken  from  "Studies  in  English  Com- 
position," Keeler  &  Davis  (AUyn  &  Bacon),  1897. 

May  we  meet  in  health  and  happiness,  and  may  you  be  as  kindly 
disposed  as  ever,  to  ^ 

And  now  farewell  and  fare  ever  well. 


My  best  wishes  accompany  you  on  what  I  trust  will  be  a  happy 
and  pleasant  journey. 


Yours, 

3e  a  ha 
Yours  ever, 


I90  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

And  trusting  you  will  preserve  a  kind  remembrance  of  me,  I 
'  Yours  most  sincerely, 

My  love  to  Emily  and  Serena,  and  may  you  and  Moscheles  be  as 

well  and  as  happy  as  I  wish  you  to  be. 

Yours, 

For  to-day,  good-by.    And  more  thanks  and  —  hurrah,  you  are 

coming!  ^ 

Ever  yours, 

Letters  and  Bodies  of  Letters 

We  had,  last  night,  an  old-fashioned  northeast  snowstorm,  far 
worse  than  anything  in  the  winter;  and  the  drifts  are  now  very  high 
above  the  fences.  The  inhabitants  are  pretty  much  confined  to 
their  houses.  All  houses  are  one  color,  white,  with  the  snow  plas- 
tered over  them,  and  you  cannot  tell  whether  they  have  blinds  or 
not.  Our  pump  has  another  pump,  its  ghost,  as  thick  as  itself,  stick- 
ing to  one  side  of  it. 

—  Henry  D.  Thoreau,  Concord,  March  22,  1861. 

My  dear  Sir: 

I  expect  to  sail  for  England  in  the  Baltic  on  Saturday  next;  and 
although  my  stay  will  probably  be  quite  brief,  I  am  desirous  of  see- 
ing Mr.  Rogers.     Will  you  give  me  a  line  to  him  and  any  other  friend 
in  England  whom  it  would  be  pleasant  for  me  to  see,  and  oblige. 
Yours  ever,  truly  and  respectfully, 

Henry  T.  Tuckerman. 

We  had  a  very  quick  passage  to  Albany,  where  we  arrived  at 
three  o'clock  on  Thursday  morning.  I  was  unwell  almost  the  whole 
time,  and  could  not  sleep  either  night.  We  left  Albany  about  an 
hour  after  we  arrived  there,  in  a  wagon,  and  reached  Johnstown 
between  ten  and  eleven  in  the  evening.  The  roads  were  fine,  being 
turnpike  almost  the  whole  way;  but  I  was  so  weak  that  it  was  sev- 


LETTER  WRITING  191 

eral  days  before  I  got  over  the  fatigue.    I  have  had  a  httle  better 

appetite  since  I  have  been  up  here,  though  I  have  been  troubled  with 

the  pain  in  my  breast  almost  constantly,  and  still  have  a  cough  at 

night.     I  am  unable  to  take  any  exercise  worth  mentioning,  and 

doze  away  my  time  pretty  much  as  I  did  in  New  York;  however,  I 

hope  soon  to  get  in  a  better  trim.  tt/    7  •    .      t    • 

^  ^  — Washington  Irmng. 

I  was,  a  few  mornings  since,  on  a  visit  to  the  Duchess  of  Berwick. 
She  is  the  widow  of  a  grandee  of  Spain,  who  claimed  some  kind  of 
descent  from  the  royal  line  of  the  Stuarts.  She  is  of  immense  wealth, 
and  resides  in  the  most  beautiful  palace  in  Madrid  (excepting  the 
royal  one).  I  passed  up  a  splendid  staircase,  and  through  halls  and 
saloons  without  number,  all  magnificently  furnished,  and  hung  with 
pictures  and  family  portraits.  This  Duchess  was  an  ItaHan  by 
birth,  and  brought  up  in  the  royal  family  at  Naples.  She  is  the 
very  head  of  fashion  here.  Well,  this  lady  of  almost  princely  state, 
will  be  one  of  the  ladies-in-waiting  on  the  little  Queen  when  she 
receives  her  mother.  She  will  stand  behind  the  Queen  at  the  foot 
of  the  staircase  of  the  royal  palace,  and  perhaps  near  her  Majesty's 
train. 

Think  of  that,  my  dear,  think  how  grandly  these  httle  queens  of 
thirteen  years  of  age  are  waited  upon.  .  .  .  After  all  this  magnifi- 
cent detail,  I  shall  expect,  in  return,  an  account  of  cousin  Julia's 
Ball,  and  how  you  all  enjoyed  yourselves,  and  how  you  were  all 
dressed. 

Your  mother  reminds  me  that  to-morrow  is  your  eighteenth  birth- 
day, and  though  I  know  that  my  "happy  returns"  will  reach  you  a 
few  hours  too  late,  I  cannot  but  send  them. 

You  are  touching  manhood  now,  my  dear  laddie,  and  I  trust  that 
as  a  man  your  mother  and  I  may  always  find  reason  to  regard  you 
as  we  have  done  throughout  your  boyhood. 

The  great  thing  in  the  world  is  not  so  much  to  seek  happiness  as 
to  earn  peace  and  self-respect.  I  have  not  troubled  you  much  with 
paternal  didactics  —  but  that  bit  is  "over  true"  and  worth  thinking 
over. 

—  Ti  H.  Huxley. 


192  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

My  dear  Longfellow: 

You  are  coming  to  England,  you  know.  Now  listen  to  me.  When 
you  return  to  London,  I  shall  be  there,  please  God!  Write  to  me 
from  the  Continent,  and  tell  me  when  to  expect  you.  We  hve  quietly 
—  not  uncomfortably  —  and  among  people  whom  I  am  sure  you 
would  like  to  know,  as  much  as  they  would  like  to  know  you.  Have 
no  home  but  mine;  see  nothing  in  town  on  your  way  towards  Ger- 
many, and  let  me  be  your  London  host  and  cicerone.    Is  this  a 

bargain? 

Always  faithfully  your  friend, 

Charles  Dickens. 


This  morning  I  poured  some  ink  for  the  first  time  into  your  pretty 
ink-stand,  and,  as  in  duty  bound,  hansel  it  by  writing  to  you.  It 
has  been  standing  on  my  shelf  of  my  secretary,  its  mouth  wide  open 
with  astonishment  at  my  ingratitude  in  not  writing  to  thank  you, 
ever  since  it  came.  It  needn't  have  been  so  jealous,  though,  for  I 
have  written  to  nobody  else  meanwhile,  and  it  should  remember  that 
I  can  at  any  moment  shut  it  up  tight,  deny  it  ink,  pen  and  paper, 
and  thus  cut  it  off  from  all  its  friends.  "Monster!"  I  seem  to  hear 
it  say,  "you  would  not  surely  deny  me  the  sad  consolation  of  sending 
my  love  to  Mrs.  Herrick  and  telling  her  how  home-sick  I  am?  There 
are  all  kinds  of  fine  things  in  me,  as  good  as  were  ever  in  any  ink- 
stand that  ever  lived,  if  you  had  but  the  wit  to  fish  them  out.  If  I 
had  stayed  with  my  dear  mistress  I  should  ere  this  have  found  a 
vent  for  my  genius  in  a  score  of  pleasant  ways."  Well,  well,  so  long 
as  you  don't  make  me  uneasy  with  your  reproaches,  I  shall  be  sure 
to  treat  you  kindly  for  the  sake  of  your  old  mistress,  .  .  .  who  is 
always  contriving  pleasant  ways  of  making  her  friends  grateful. 

Since  I  wrote,  I  have  been  down  the  harbor  with  the  pilots  in  "  The 
Friend."  We  went  first  to  Hull  and  telegraphed  the  boat,  which 
was  cruising  on  the  inner  station.  They  could  not  come  in  for  us 
at  once,  because  they  were  on  the  lookout  for  the  EngHsh  steamers, 
so  we  had  a  chance  to  investigate  Hull  a  little.  It  is  a  pretty  Httle 
village  cuddled  down  among  the  hills,  the  clay  soil  of  which  keeps 
them  densely  green.    The  fields  are  broad  and  wholly  given  to  graz- 


LETTER  WRITING  193 

ing  cattle  and  sheep,  which  dotted  them  thickly  in  the  breezy  sun- 
shine. Down  in  the  village  we  found  a  stalwart  fellow  in  the  barn 
shearing  sheep.  This  was  something  new  to  me,  and  going  away,  X 
thanked  the  man  for  having  shown  me  something  I  had  never  seen 
before.  He  laughed  and  said:  "If  you'll  take  off  them  gloves  o' 
yourn,  I'll  give  you  a  try  at  the  practical  part  of  it."  By  Jove!  he 
was  right.  I  never  saw  anything  handsomer  than  those  strong,  firm 
hands  of  his,  on  which  the  sinews  were  as  tight  as  a  drawn  bowstring. 
I  told  him  that  I  was  bred  in  the  country  as  well  as  he.  He 
laughed  again  and  said:  "Wall,  anyhow  I've  the  advantage  of  you, 
for  you  never  see  a  sheep  shore,  and  I've  been  to  the  open  and  shore 
a  sheep  myself  into  the  bargain."  He  told  me  that  there  were  two 
hundred  sheep  in  Hull,  and  that  in  his  father's  day  there  used  to  be 
eight  hundred.  The  father,  an  old  man  of  near  eighty,  stood  look- 
ing on,  pleased  with  his  son's  wit,  as  brown  as  if  the  Hull  fogs  were 
walnut  juice.  Then  we  dined  at  a  little  inn  with  a  golden  ball  hung 
out  for  a  sign  —  a  waif,  I  fancy,  from  some  shipwrecked  vessel. 

—  James  Russell  Lowell. 

Will  you  dine  with  me  on  Saturday  at  six?  I  have  a  Baltimore 
friend  coming,  and  depend  on  you.  ...  If  not  Saturday,  wiU  you 
say  Sunday? 

—  /.  R.  Lowell  to  LongfeUow,  Elmwood,  May  3,  1876. 

The  aspect  of  a  Dutch  town  is  much  as  I  expected,  and  of  course 
quite  pecuhar.  Brick  houses  with  sharp  roofs,  green  bHnds,  gener- 
ally small  and  not  more  than  two  or  three  stories  high,  with  remark- 
ably pretty  iron  fences  before  them  —  odd  names  and  signs  up  at 
the  windows,  —  at  intervals  the  figure  of  a  man  opening  his  jaws  as 
if  to  bolt  a  score  of  pills,  the  sign  of  the  apothecary  shops  —  here  a 
street  and  there  a  canal  —  here  a  hackney  coach  on  wheels,  and  there 
one  which  is  dragged  over  the  smooth  flagstones  on  runners  —  such 
are  the  images  that  rise  to  my  mind  when  I  think  of  Rotterdam  or 

—  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,  London,  July  25,  1834. 

Your  most  unexpected  gift,  which  is  not  a  mere  token  of  remem- 
brance, but  a  permanently  valuable  present,  is  making  me  happier 


194  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

every  moment  I  look  at  it.  It  is  so  pleasant  to  be  thought  of  by 
our  friends  when  they  have  so  much  to  draw  their  thoughts  away 
from  us;  it  is  so  pleasant  too,  to  find  that  they  have  cared  enough 
about  us  to  study  our  special  tastes  —  that  you  can  see  why  your 
beautiful  gift  has  a  growing  charm  for  me.  Only  Mrs.  Holmes  thinks 
it  ought  to  be  in  the  parlor  among  the  things  for  show,  and  I  think 
it  ought  to  be  in  the  study,  where  I  can  look  at  it  at  least  once  an 
hour  every  day  of  my  hfe. 

—  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,  July  6,  1891. 

These  may  be  considered  types  of  the  letters  to  be  presented. 
When  the  study  of  the  general  thought,  the  tone,  the  style, 
the  paragraphing,  and  finally  the  sentence  structure  has  been 
completed,  have  the  class  go  over  the  model  once  more  so  as 
to  learn  any  good  words  or  phrases  which  may  be  used  by  them 
in  their  own  work.  In  the  fourth  year,  first  half,  direct  atten- 
tion to  "to  be  promoted"  rather  than  to  "to  get  promoted." 
Have  the  class  study  the  right  form,  keeping  a  book  in  which 
they  will  enter  from  time  to  time  similar  expressions  which  will 
become  a  part  of  their  written  and  spoken  vocabulary. 

In  the  fourth  year,  second  half,  note  the  word  "successful" 
rather  than  the  indifferent  word  "good"  or  "nice."  Synonyms 
may  be  elicited  from  pupils  of  the  class,  and  boys  should  be 
encouraged  to  use  these  rather  than  the  word  given  in  the 
model. 

In  the  fifth  year,  first  half,  "secure  employment"  rather  than 
"getting  a  job"  or  "getting  a  place"  should  be  emphasized. 
The  word  "thorough"  should  be  dwelt  upon  as  a  desirable 
addition  to  one's  vocabulary.  The  phrase,  "furnish  recom- 
mendations" is  one  that  should  be  brought  to  the  attention  of 
the  class.  Note  also  that  we  use  "was  graduated"  rather  than 
"graduated." 

In  the  fifth  year,  second  half,  the  word  "notify"  is  used  where 
the  usual  letter  makes  use  of  the  word  "advise."  The  latter  is 
not  good  form. 


LETTER  WRITING  195 

In  the  work  of  the  sixth  year,  first  half,  a  number  of  words  and 
phrases  should  be  made  vital  to  the  class:  "hasten  to  acknowl- 
edge," "decided,"  "unanimously";  "someone"  written  as 
one  word,  "designated"  —  are  examples.  So  also,  "was  in- 
structed to  communicate,"  "joint  committees,"  "that  the 
debate  be  held,"  with  emphasis  on  the  subjunctive  form,  are 
important. 

Finally,  there  should  be  study  of  the  speUing  and  the  punctua- 
tion. Here  the  method  of  the  dictation  lesson  may  be  employed. 
After  the  punctuation  mark  has  been  noted,  the  reason  for  its 
use  should  be  given,  and  the  class,  at  seats  or  at  blackboard, 
may  write  phrases  and  sentences  illustrating  the  points  devel- 
oped. Where  possible,  if  the  plan  of  dictation  for  the  term  can 
be  so  arranged,  the  technical  form  should  be  taken  up  in  a  dic- 
tation lesson  at  about  the  same  time  that  the  model  is  studied. 
The  last  step  in  the  study  of  the  model  should  be  the  dictation 
of  the  words  in  the  spelling  of  which  the  teacher  anticipates 
difiiculty.  These  should  be  copied  by  the  class  in  note  books 
and  may  be  made  the  subject  of  an  additional  spelling  lesson. 

It  is  not  our  intention  at  this  point  to  take  up  a  discussion 
of  the  question  of  composition  correction.  That  subject  will 
later  be  treated  in  full.  A  few  suggestions,  however,  may  be 
helpful.  The  teacher  should  from  time  to  time  take  home  a 
set  of  composition  papers  for  the  purpose  of  reading  them 
through.  It  is  not  necessary  to  correct  them.  The  reading 
should  be  done  only  for  the  purpose  of  getting  a  general  impres- 
sion of  the  work  of  the  class,  the  nature  of  the  prevailing  errors, 
the  peculiar  errors  of  certain  individuals,  and  an  estimate  of 
the  general  progress  of  the  class.  The  teacher  should  keep  a 
record  of  the  weakness  of  individuals.  The  teaching  of  com- 
position is  not  a  class  affair.  It  is  a  question  of  the  progress 
that  is  made  by  each  individual  member  of  the  class. 

It  is  well  to  have  class  correction  of  each  exercise  before  the 
advance  is  made  to  another;   otherwise,  the  teacher  will  find 


196  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

the  same  errors  repeated  again  and  again.  In  the  comparison 
of  the  children's  letters  with  the  original  model  an  analytic 
method  may  be  followed.  First  the  general  form;  then  the 
paragraphing;  then  the  sentence  structure;  then  the  words 
and  phrases;  finally,  the  spelling  and  the  punctuation.  The 
teacher  may  have  letters  interchanged,  asking  the  critics  to 
write  their  names  on  the  papers  they  have  looked  over.  This 
will  fix  responsibility.  Conversation  within  small  groups  of 
pupils  may  safely  be  permitted.  Sometimes  it  will  be  found 
valuable  to  have  a  child  write  his  composition  on  the  board 
before  nine  or  before  one  o'clock.  The  teacher  may  cover  this 
work  with  sheets  of  paper.  When  the  period  comes  for  correc- 
tion, the  paper  may  be  removed  and  the  class  may  discuss  the 
pupil's  work.  Frequently  it  will  be  found  that  the  best  com- 
position of  one  of  the  children  may  be  used  as  a  model  with 
good  results. 

When  corrections  are  made,  the  pupils  should  make  the  actual 
changes  by  interlining.  If  is  of  no  value  merely  to  indicate  the 
nature  of  the  error.  In  practice  we  wish  to  show  the  exact  and 
correct  form.  While  the  teacher  is  passing  aroimd  the  room, 
she  should  be  making  corrections.  Where  the  error  is  of  such  a 
sort  that  the  pupil  has  already  studied  the  corrected  form,  the 
teacher  should  by  questions  lead  him  to  a  correction  of  his  own 
work.  When  the  error  cannot  be  briefly  explained,  the  teacher 
should  show  the  correct  form  and  rely  upon  the  power  of  imita- 
tion for  the  instruction  of  the  pupil.  It  is  advisable  to  have 
all  corrections  made  in  pencil.  The  custom  of  first  having 
drafts  and  finally  copies  is  pernicious,  since  it  encourages  poor 
writing  and  careless  habits  of  expression.  Unless  there  is  a  real 
need  for  a  perfect  copy,  it  is  seldom  advisable  to  have  a  com- 
position rewritten. 

Summary. — The  most  desirable  quality  in  letter  writing  is  spon- 
taneity.   To  secure  it  we  must  separate  the  study  of  the  form  of  let- 


LETTER  WRITING  197 

ters  from  the  writing  of  the  letter  itself.  The  former  is  a  matter  of 
technique  and  should  be  taken  up  as  such.  The  latter  is  a  mode  of 
self-expression  and  should  not  be  checked  by  the  deadening  imita- 
tion of  a  model.  Subjects  should  be  personal  and  concrete.  When 
possible  the  conditions  of  actual  correspondence  should  be  estab- 
Hshed  in  order  to  lend  reahsm  to  the  exercise.  The  study  of  the 
model  should  follow  the  writing  of  the  letters. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 
COMPOSITION  —  NARRATION 

If  the  method  outlined  m  Chapter  X  had  been  followed, 
much  of  the  work  in  narration  has  already  been  done.  The 
adaptation  of  the  "Yonkers"  or  "Variation"  method  which 
was  there  given  does  not,  however,  analyze  the  elements  of  a 
narrative  itself.  It  accepts  the  story  already  made,  and  con- 
centrates attention  upon  the  vocabulary  and  equivalent  ex- 
pressions. In  the  study  of  narration,  under  the  heading  of 
Formal  Composition,  it  should  be  the  aim  of  the  teacher  to  use 
all  the  experience  in  narrative  writing  which  has  been  gained 
from  the  other  work  in  order  to  bring  out  ideas  of  the  elements 
of  a  narrative  itself. 

Reference  has  already  been  made  to  the  dynamic  nature  of 
the  narrative.  The  teacher  must  approach  her  work  with 
this  conception  clearly  defined.  Narration  is  the  form  of 
expression  most  natural  to  human  beings.  It  is  more  ele- 
mentary to  speak  of  what  one  has  done  or  has  seen  others  do 
than  to  describe  what  one  has  seen.  Less  accuracy  of  discrim- 
ination is  necessary  for  the  former  process  and,  hence,  children 
are  very  likely  to  excel  in  narrative,  though  their  descriptive 
work  may  be  indifferent.  Furthermore,  a  good  narrative 
depends  upon  rapidity  of  action,  clearness  of  details,  and  co- 
herence. A  good  description  depends,  primarily,  upon  well 
chosen  epithets.  It  is  a  much  rarer  thing  to  find  power  in  the 
latter  than  in  the  former  particular.  It  will  not  be  necessary 
to  urge  children  in  the  composition  of  a  narrative.  If  they  are 
given  sufl&cient  confidence,  when  they  are  given  the  elements 


NARRATION  199 

or  the  suggestion  of  a  story  that  is  worth  telling,  they  will  look 
forward  with  eagerness  to  the  period  set  aside  for  this  work. 

The  question  then  must  arise:  How  are  we  to  give  this 
'proper  training?  As  in  practically  all  successful  habit  forma- 
tion, analysis  must  precede  synthesis.  Logically  it  may  be 
correct  to  build  up  from  the  elements;  pedagogically,  the 
natural  method  is  analytic. 

The  first  work  should  be  to  read  a  short  story  to  the  class 
as  a  mere  relaxation.  It  is  a  mistake  to  begin  this  work  at 
once  by  presenting  the  model,  studying  it,  reproducing  it,  and 
so  on.  The  children  should  first  be  interested  in  a  story  as 
such,  and  if  they  have  the  feeling  that  no  story  is  ever  to  be 
presented  to  them  except  for  analysis  and  imitation,  there  will 
be  only  perfunctory  interest.  If,  however,  a  number  of  stories 
are  told  to  the  children  at  odd  moments,  and  if  when  the  com- 
position time  comes,  the  children  are  called  upon  to  choose 
which  one  they  wish  to  reproduce  or  imitate,  we  are  approach- 
ing more  closely  to  a  method  that  gives  opportunity  for  free 
self-expression. 

In  the  lower  classes,  of  course,  reproduction  of  some  sort 
may  follow  upon  practically  every  telling  of  the  story.  In  these 
cases  there  is  no  reason  why  this  part  of  the  work  should  be 
used  for  the  purpose  of  training  dij6&dent  or  backward  children 
in  oral  composition.  Call  upon  the  best  pupils,  those  who  can 
be  relied  upon,  and  for  each  story  have  but  one,  or  at  most 
two  pupils  of  the  backward  type  attempt  a  reproduction.  It 
is  a  torture  to  listen  to  a  good  story  poorly  told;  why  should 
we  subject  the  children  to  such  torture?  On  the  other  hand, 
however,  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  if  the  story  is  of  the  right 
type  and  the  children  are  really  interested,  there  is  no  better 
time  to  call  upon  the  slow  pupils  than  this,  for  the  teacher  may 
now  be  assured  of  interest  and  a  desire  to  excel. 

After  the  story  has  been  told,  the  teacher  may  ask  the  class 
as  a  whole  to  supply  omitted  details.    Once  more  it  must  be 


200  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

emphasized  that  the  teacher  should  not  make  the  mistake 
of  permitting  disjointed  answers,  meaningless  in  themselves, 
encouraging  habits  of  carelessness  in  speech  and  in  thought. 
Each  time  a  pupil  supplies  a  fact,  he  should  be  called  upon  to 
tell  why  he  considers  this  fact  important.  Finally,  the  teacher 
may,  with  a  few  well-chosen  questions,  bring  to  the  surface  new 
applications  and  relations.  It  is  essential  that  the  teacher 
know  the  story  perfectly.  She  should  have  determined  on  the 
points  to  be  emphasized,  and  the  inexperienced  teacher  should 
even  have  framed  the  questions  designed  to  lead  the  class  to 
see  these  important  parts.  In  general  it  may  be  said  that  the 
questions  of  the  teacher  should  be  devoted  to  one  of  three 
purposes.  First,  to  bring  out  facts  previously  unmentioned. 
Second,  to  show  the  ethical  application  of  the  story,  if  there  be 
any,  to  ask  the  judgment  of  the  pupils  on  such  questions  of 
conduct  as  may  lie  within  their  experience,  and  in  general  to 
make  the  narrative  a  vital  part  of  their  thinking.  Third,  to 
show  as  much  of  the  technical  construction  of  the  story  as 
may  be  thought  wise,  considering,  however,  the  age  and  the 
capabilities  of  the  children.  This  part  of  the  work  will  later  be 
treated  more  in  detail. 

The  analysis  should  not  be  taken  up  until  there  has  been  a 
general  discussion  of  the  story.  For  instance,  a  question  like, 
''What  do  you  think  of  this  story?  "  is  sufficient  to  evoke  varied 
comment.  It  is  difficult  to  decide  whether  the  model  should 
be  presented  before  or  after  the  children  write  an  original  story. 
On  the  one  hand,  it  must  be  recognized  that  at  some  time  or 
other  there  must  be  a  careful  study  of  the  form.  On  the  other, 
it  must  equally  be  recognized  that  mere  imitation  may  produce 
a  flat  sameness.  It  is  in  this  connection  that  valuable  use  may 
be  made  of  the  instruction  already  given  in  the  oral  and  written 
reproduction  of  stories.  Even  when  the  children  have  reached 
the  first  half  of  the  fourth  year,  they  should  already  be  able 
to  write  with  almost  absolute  accuracy  a  story  of  reasonable 


NARRATION  201 

length,  containing  many  features  entirely  original  with  them, 
although  the  story  itself  is  merely  an  adaptation  of  one  presented 
by  the  teacher. 

Before  the  children  are  called  upon  to  write  an  original  story, 
they  may  be  asked  to  put  on  paper  one  of  the  stories  already 
written  by  them  in  the  school.  This  may  be  assigned  for  seat 
work,  or  it  may  be  done  at  home.  At  all  events,  it  should  not 
take  up  much  of  the  time  which  rightly  should  be  given  to  the 
actual  composition  work  in  narration.  The  story  may  be  used 
as  the  first  presentation  of  the  narrative  to  the  children,  and 
with  this  as  the  basis,  the  teacher  should  proceed  to  call  the 
attention  of  the  class  to  certain  elements  of  the  technique  of 
narration. 

In  every  class,  from  the  first  half  of  the  fourth  year  through 
the  sixth  year,  where  much  of  this  formal  work  will  cease,  the 
teacher  should  bring  out  the  idea  that  the  connection  between 
the  paragraphs  in  an  exercise  in  narration  is  the  sequence  in 
time.  That  is  to  say,  except  where  the  chronological  order  is 
purposely  departed  from,  the  order  of  events  as  given  in  the 
story  should  determine  the  order  of  the  paragraphs.  Secondly, 
the  class  should  be  led  to  observe  that  each  paragraph  tells  one 
incident  or  a  unit  part  of  an  incident  in  full.  Thirdly,  that  the 
topic  of  the  last  paragraph  should  be  such  as  to  form  a  climax 
to  the  story. 

It  might  be  well  to  have  the  class  form  an  outline  from  the 
story  which  has  been  written.  It  will  probably  be  found  that 
the  best  results  will  be  achieved  if  the  topic  sentence  of  the  out- 
line is  written  in  the  present  tense.  In  the  higher  grades,  such 
as  from  the  fifth  year  onward,  the  children  may  be  allowed 
to  use  the  past  tense  in  their  preparation  of  the  outline.  A 
difficulty  often  met  in  this  utilization  of  the  stories  learned 
by  the  children  in  another  part  of  the  work,  is  that  the 
stories  which  they  reproduce,  using  their  own  variations  in 
expression,    are    many   times    longer    than    those    they    are 


202  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

allowed  to  compose  exclusively  from  their  own  data.  It  will 
be  noted,  for  instance,  that  the  model  for  the  first  half  of  the 
fourth  year  contains  but  two  paragraphs,  and  the  teacher  should 
see  to  it  that  the  work  of  the  pupil  contains  no  more  than  two. 
The  reason  for  this  difference  in  length  is  not  hard  to  find.  It 
is  much  easier  merely  to  vary  a  story  already  determined  as 
to  order  of  development  and  climax,  concentrating  attention 
solely  on  the  expression,  than  it  is  to  write  an  original  story 
with  attention  divided  between  the  expression,  i.e.,  the  form, 
and  the  story,  or  the  content. 

In  the  fourth  year  it  will  be  sufficient  to  make  the  analysis 
of  the  children's  stories  bring  out  these  ideas  of  chronological, 
sequence,  of  paragraph  unity,  and,  finally,  of  climax.  In  the 
fifth  year,  since  the  stories  which  have  already  been  written 
will  be  more  difficult,  the  analysis  by  the  teacher  should  bring 
out  the  point  that  occasionally  the  thread  of  the  story  may  be 
interrupted  so  as  to  allow  the  story  teller  to  insert  a  description 
of  a  place  in  which  something  important  is  to  happen,  or  of 
a  person  by  whom  something  of  importance  is  to  be  done.  In 
the  fifth  year  also,  there  should  be  emphasis  on  the  importance 
of  straightforward  narration.  No  event  is  told  out  of  its  order, 
and  there  is  no  retracing  of  one's  steps.  The  teacher  may  make 
this  idea  clear  to  the  children  by  telling  them  that  a  narration 
tells  of  things  and  the  times  at  which  they  took  place;  and  that 
just  as  we  cannot  turn  time  backwards,  so  we  cannot  go  back- 
wards in  our  telling  of  a  story.  It  will  be  found  that  the  retro- 
spective narration  cannot  be  successfully  handled  below  the 
seventh  year  of  the  elementary  school  course.  In  the  fifth  and 
the  sixth  years,  also,  the  teacher  may  call  attention  to  a  few 
particularly  well-chosen  words  in  the  stories  written  by  the 
children.  In  general,  however,  this  analysis  of  the  stories  which 
the  children  have  learned  in  their  oral  and  written  reproduction 
work  should  be  made  solely  for  the  purpose  of  bringing  out  the 
idea  of  correct  form  in  narration. 


NARRATION  203 

The  next  step  in  the  work  should  be  to  give  to  the  class  either 
the  elements  of  a  story  or  a  subject  on  which  they  are  to  write. 
The  study  of  the  formal  model  should  be  made  only  after  the 
children  have  set  down  on  paper  their  own  attempts. 

In  the  first  half  of  the  fourth  year  the  introduction  might  be 
to  tell  what  a  fable  is;  then  the  model  might  be  given  to  the 
children.  In  the  second  half  of  the  fourth  year  the  aim  should 
be  the  reproduction  of  the  story  with  particular  emphasis  upon 
an  uninterrupted  sequence  of  events.  In  the  fifth  year,  first 
half,  it  would  of  course  be  extremely  dull  to  ask  the  children 
to  reproduce  the  story  suggested  as  a  model.  The  teacher 
should  make  the  narration  so  vivid  that  on  the  basis  of  this 
work  the  children  will  be  able  to  write  a  story  of  their  own. 
Here,  therefore,  the  model  should  again  precede  the  writing  of 
the  original  work  by  the  children.  In  the  second  half  of  the 
fifth  year  the  analysis  of  the  story  may  be  the  first  part  of 
the  lesson,  and  the  original  work  of  the  children  may  be  the 
development  of  the  idea  suggested  in  the  title.  In  the  study  of 
the  model  in  the  first  half  of  the  sixth  year,  direct  reproduction 
may  be  permitted.  The  aim  here  is  to  make  an  addition  to  the 
vocabulary  of  the  child,  and  no  better  means  could  be  adopted 
than  the  selection  of  a  story  from  Hawthorne.  The  model  for 
the  last  half  of  the  sixth  year  should  not  be  studied  until  after 
the  children  have  written  their  own  composition.  The  models 
are  here  presented.  They  have  been  chosen  from  different 
sources,  and  have  been  found  adapted  to  the  work  of  an  average 

child. 

Fourth  Year  —  First  Half 

The  Crow  and  the  Pitcher 

A  thirsty  crow  one  morning  sought  far  and  wide  for  water  to 
quench  his  thirst.  At  last  he  found  a  long-necked  pitcher  which  was 
partly  filled  with  water.  He  said,  "Now  I  can  have  water  to  drink." 
But  when  he  tried  to  drink,  he  found  that  he  could  not  reach  the  water, 
it  stood  so  low  in  the  pitcher.    He  tried  and  tried  in  vain. 


204  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

At  last  a  happy  thought  struck  him.  He  found  a  pebble  near  by, 
brought  it  in  his  bill,  and  dropped  it  into  the  water.  Then  he  flew 
to  get  another,  and  another,  and  another,  dropping  them  into  the 
pitcher,  one  by  one.  The  water  rose  higher  and  higher  with  every 
pebble,  until  at  last  he  could  reach  it  easily.     Then  he  drank  his  fill. 

Fourth  Year  —  Second  Half 

When  Stuart  was  painting  Washington's  portrait,  he  was  rallied 
one  day  by  the  General  for  his  slow  work.  The  painter  protested 
that  the  picture  could  not  advance  until  the  canvas  was  dry,  and 
that  there  must  be  yet  some  delay.  Upon  arriving  next  morning, 
Stuart  turned  his  canvas  and  discovered,  to  his  great  horror,  that 
the  picture  was  spoiled.  "General,"  said  he,  "somebody  has  held 
this  picture  to  the  fire." 

Washington  summoned  his  negro  valet,  Sam,  and  demanded  of 
him,  in  great  indignation,  who  had  dared  to  touch  the  portrait. 
The  trembling  Sam  repHed,  that,  chancing  to  overhear  Washington's 
expression  of  impatience  at  the  slowness  of  the  work,  and  the  response 
of  the  artist  that  it  must  be  dry  before  he  could  go  on,  he  had  ven- 
tured to  put  the  canvas  before  the  fire.  Washington,  with  great 
anger,  dismissed  him,  and  told  him  not  to  show  his  face  again. 

But  the  next  day,  after  Stuart  had  arrived  and  was  preparing  to 
work,  Washington  rang  the  bell,  and  sent  for  Sam.  He  came  in 
abashed  and  trembling.  The  President  drew  a  new  silver  watch  from 
his  pocket,  and  said,  "  Come  here,  Sam.  Take  this  watch,  and  when- 
ever you  look  at  it  remember  that  your  master,  in  a  moment  of  pas- 
sion, said  to  you  what  he  now  regrets,  and  that  he  was  not  ashamed 
to  confess  that  he  had  done  so." 

Fifth  Year  —  First  Half 

One  day  a  tragedy  was  enacted  a  few  yards  from  where  I  was  sit- 
ting with  a  book;  two  song  sparrows  were  trying  to  defend  their 
nest  against  a  black  snake.  The  curious  interrogating  note  of  a 
chicken  who  had  suddenly  come  upon  the  scene  in  his  walk  first 
caused  me  to  look  up  from  my  reading.  There  were  the  sparrows, 
with  wings  raised  in  a  way  pecuharly  expressive  of  horror  and  dis- 


NARRATION  205 

may,  rushing  about  a  low  clump  of  grass  and  bushes.  Then,  looking 
more  closely,  I  saw  the  glistening  form  of  the  black  snake,  and  the 
quick  movement  of  his  head  as  he  tried  to  seize  the  birds. 

The  sparrows  darted  about  and  through  the  grass  and  weeds,  try- 
ing to  beat  the  snake  ofif.  Their  tails  and  wings  were  spread,  and, 
panting  with  the  heat  and  desperate  struggle,  they  presented  a  most 
singular  spectacle.  They  uttered  no  cry,  not  a  sound  escaped  them; 
they  were  plainly  speechless  with  horror  and  dismay.  Not  once 
did  they  drop  their  wings,  and  the  pecuHar  expression  of  the  uplifted 
palms,  as  it  were,  I  shall  never  forget. 

It  occurred  to  me  that  perhaps  here  was  a  case  of  attempt  at  bird- 
charming  on  the  part  of  the  snake,  so  I  looked  on  from  behind  the 
fence.  The  birds  charged  the  snake  and  harassed  him  from  every 
side,  but  were  evidently  under  no  spell  save  that  of  courage  in 
defending  their  nest. 

Every  moment  or  two  I  could  see  the  head  and  neck  of  the  serpent 
make  a  sweep  at  the  birds,  when  the  one  struck  at  would  fall  back, 
and  the  other  would  renew  the  assault  from  the  rear.  There  ap- 
peared to  be  little  danger  that  the  snake  could  strike  and  hold  one  of 
the  birds,  though  I  trembled  for  them,  they  were  so  bold  and  ap- 
proached so  near  to  the  snake's  head.  Time  and  again  he  sprang 
at  them,  but  without  success.  How  the  poor  things  panted,  and  held 
up  their  wings  appealingly!  Then  the  snake  glided  ofif  to  the  near 
fence,  barely  escaping  the  stone  which  I  hurled  at  him. 

—  John  Burroughs. 

Fifth  Year  —  Second  Half 

An  Unwelcome  Visitor 

Many  years  ago,  a  little  frame  schoolhouse  stood  at  the  edge  of  a 
large  forest.  Often  the  children  in  school  would  tremble  to  hear  the 
wolves  howhng  near  by;  yet  they  loved  to  collect  at  the  windows  and 
watch  the  troops  of  gay  hunters  who  passed  on  their  way  to  the 
forest. 

One  fine  spring  morning,  the  yelping  of  hunters'  hounds  broke  the 
stillness,  and  before  anyone  had  time  to  rush  to  the  windows  to  see 
what  was  the  matter,  a  fox  dashed  in  at  the  open  schoolroom  door 


2o6  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

with  a  pack  of  hounds  close  upon  it.  In  a  second  everything  was  in 
an  uproar.  The  fox  turned  about  as  if  it  wanted  to  go  back,  but  the 
hounds  in  the  door  blocked  the  way,  so  with  growls  and  snarls  it  leaped 
over  the  benches  scattering  the  screaming  children  right  and  left. 

Some  of  the  children  scrambled  under  benches  to  get  out  of  the 
way,  others  huddled  together  in  corners,  and  a  few  nearest  the  door 
rushed  out,  while  the  teacher  shouted,  "Out  at  the  door,  every- 
body!" The  fox  made  for  the  farthest  corner  of  the  room,  and  as 
the  hounds  closed  in  upon  it,  in  the  general  confusion,  the  last  of  the 
children  were  finally  pushed  out  at  the  doorway  by  the  teacher. 

A  group  of  himters  came  riding  up,  and  several  hurried  into  the 
schoolroom  to  the  hounds'  assistance.  They  had  guessed  what  had 
taken  place  when  they  heard  the  shouts  of  the  children,  but  were 
too  far  away  to  call  off  the  hounds.  They  seemed  heartily  sorry  to 
think  they  had  caused  such  a  disturbance. 

Sixth  Year  —  First  Half 

Miss  Hepzibah  Pyncheon  sat  in  the  oaken  elbow  chair.  She  was 
suddenly  startled  by  the  tinkHng  alarm  —  of  a  Httle  bell.  The  maiden 
lady  arose  upon  her  feet,  as  pale  as  a  ghost.  This  little  bell,  being 
fastened  over  the  shop  door,  was  so  contrived  as  to  convey  notice 
to  the  inner  regions  of  the  house  when  any  customer  should  cross 
the  threshold.  Its  ugly  and  spiteful  little  din  at  once  set  every 
nerve  in  her  body  in  tumultuous  vibration.  Her  first  customer  was 
at  the  door. 

The  door,  being  forced  quite  open,  a  square  and  sturdy  little  ur- 
chin became  apparent,  with  cheeks  as  red  as  an  apple.  He  was 
clad  rather  shabbily  (but,  as  it  seemed,  more  owing  to  his  mother's 
carelessness  than  his  father's  poverty)  in  a  blue  apron,  very  wide 
and  short  trousers,  shoes  somewhat  out  at  the  toes,  and  a  chip  hat, 
with  the  frizzles  of  his  curly  head  sticking  through  the  crevices.  A 
book  and  a  small  slate,  under  his  arm,  indicated  that  he  was  on  his 
way  to  school.  He  stared  at  Hepzibah  a  moment,  not  knowing 
what  to  make  of  the  tragic  attitude  and  queer  scowl  wherewith  she 
regarded  him. 

"Well,  child,"  said  she,  taking  heart  at  the  sight  of  a  personage 
so  Httle  formidable,  "well,  my  child,  what  did  you  wish  for?  "    "That 


NARRATION  207 

Jim  Crow  there  in  the  window,"  answered  the  urchin,  holding  out  a 
cent,  and  pointing  to  the  gingerbread  figure  that  had  attracted  his 
notice. 

So  Hepzibah  put  forth  her  lank  arm,  and,  taking  the  effigy  from 
the  shop  window,  deUvered  it  to  her  first  customer.  "No  matter 
for  the  money,"  said  she,  giving  him  a  httle  push  toward  the  door; 
for  it  seemed  such  pitiful  meanness  to  take  the  child's  pocket  money 
in  exchange  for  a  bit  of  stale  gingerbread.  "You  are  welcome  to 
Jim  Crow." 

The  child,  staring  with  round  eyes  at  this  instance  of  liberality, 
took  the  man  of  gingerbread  and  quitted  the  premises.    No  sooner 
had  he  reached  the  sidewalk  than  Jim  Crow's  head  was  in  his  mouth. 
—  Adapted  from  "The  House  of  the  Seven  Gables," 

Nathaniel  Hawthorne. 

Sixth  Year  —  Second  Half 

Two  Foolish  Goats 

The  goats  started  to  cross  a  narrow  bridge  at  the  same  time. 
Neither  would  go  back  for  the  other.  They  began  to  fight  and  both 
fell  into  the  water. 

Far  up  among  the  lofty  Alps,  a  beautiful  stream  springs  from  its 
rocky  bed.  On  it  tumbles,  in  its  rushing,  noisy  way  ever  journeying 
to  the  distant  sea.  Just  where  it  is  deepest,  someone  has  built  a  nar- 
row bridge.    The  mountain  goats  often  found  it  very  useful. 

One  day  a  large,  white  goat  started  to  cross  it.  At  the  same 
moment  a  big  brown  fellow,  with  a  fine  pair  of  horns,  stepped  on  at 
the  other  end.    Of  course,  they  met  in  the  middle. 

Each  expected  the  other  to  step  back.  Both  insisted  on  moving 
forward.  White  Goat  said  he  had  started  first  and  therefore  had 
the  right  to  continue.    Brown  Goat  refused  to  yield. 

Soon  they  were  fighting.  White  Goat  was  heavy  and  strong,  but 
Brown  Goat  was  quick  with  his  horns.  They  got  so  close  to  the 
edge  of  the  bridge,  that  the  chattering  brook  could  see  their  forms 
reflected  in  her  shining  face.  Suddenly  there  was  a  loud  splash  and 
there  were  the  two  goats  struggling  desperately  to  reach  land  again. 

A  valuable  part  of  the  study  of  the  model  is  a  careful  examina- 


2o8  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

tion  of  words  and  phrases  which  may  be  adopted  by  the  class 
for  incorporation  into  their  own  work.  It  has  already  been 
suggested,  in  connection  with  the  study  of  the  letters,  what 
principles  should  guide  the  teacher  in  the  selection  of  these 
words  and  what  devices  may  be  used.  Certain  points,  however, 
are  peculiar  to  narrative  work. 

In  the  model,  fourth  year,  first  half,  the  class  should  note 
the  repetition  which  gives  the  effect  of  continued  action;  the 
examples  are,  *' tried  and  tried";  ''another  and  another  and 
another";  "higher  and  higher."  Have  the  pupils  form  sen- 
tences of  their  own,  using  these  and  original  repetitions  to  give 
the  effect.  At  this  point  the  chances  are  that  the  error  will 
develop  in  the  use  of  an  adjective  instead  of  an  adverb.  That 
is  to  say,  a  pupil  will  say,  "He  went  slower  and  slower."  This 
should  be  made  at  once  the  basis  for  correction.  Although 
reasons  cannot  be  given,  the  children  should  be  given  the 
standard  of  right  expression. 

In  the  model  for  the  second  half  of  the  fourth  year,  the  story 
should  be  dramatized  as  soon  as  it  has  been  learned  by  the  class. 
In  the  study  of  narration  in  general,  after  the  discussion,  the 
outline  formation,  and  the  study  of  words  and  phrases,  oral 
reproduction  may  be  had.  The  idea  is  to  apply  what  has  been 
learned  of  the  form  without  meeting  the  additional  difficulty 
of  spelling  and  the  technique  of  written  expression.  It  will 
be  found  that  in  the  desire  to  dramatize  well  children  will 
memorize  the  exact  language  of  the  model;  that  they  will  get 
the  dramatic  representation  of  such  phrases  and  words  as 
"abashed,"  etc.  A  valuable  exercise  will  also  be  provided  by 
the  necessity  of  changing  the  dialogue  in  the  second  paragraph 
as  reported  in  the  third  person,  to  the  second  person. 

The  model  for  the  fifth  year,  first  half,  offers  excellent  oppor- 
tunity for  developing  the  use  of  well-chosen  adjectives.  Try 
to  have  the  class  understand  that  of  the  many  describing  words 
which  could  be  used  (and  they  should  be  encouraged  to  supply 


NARRATION  209 

others  than  those  found  in  the  text),  there  is  always  one  which 
brings  a  picture  to  the  mind  and  which  is  the  best  that  could 
have  been  employed.  Examples  in  the  model  are,  "inter- 
rogating," "dispirited,"  "harassed,"  and  so  on.  Drill  on  this 
kind  of  work  will  be  found  of  great  value.  Give  the  nouns 
and  ask  the  class  to  supply  the  appropriate  adjective,  and  vice 
versa.  In  the  same  way,  sentences  with  blanks  for  the  appro- 
priate words  may  be  supplied  to  the  children.  Any  book  on 
English  will  give  a  supply  of  material  or  the  teacher  may  fur- 
nish her  own  material  by  selecting  sentences  from  any  good 
work.  In  copying  sentences,  she  may  leave  a  blank  for  the 
word  to  be  supplied.  This  is  an  excellent  form  of  busy  work  to 
be  used  in  classes  organized  for  group  work.  Similar  work  may 
be  based  on  the  model  of  the  second  half  of  the  fifth  year,  and 
that  of  the  sixth  year,  first  half. 

In  the  story  given  for  the  second  half  of  the  sixth  year,  the 
model  itself  should  not  be  presented  to  the  class  until  the  pupils 
have  made  their  own  attempts  at  the  amplification  of  the  story. 
The  teacher  may  have  the  brief  story  analyzed  and  the  outline 
may  consist  of  an  enumeration  of  the  possible  points  to  be 
expanded.  Suggestions  are  (i)  the  place;  (2)  the  description 
of  the  goats;  (3)  the  conversation  between  the  goats;  (4)  the 
fight.  Each  of  these  may  be  developed,  first,  orally,  then  in 
writing,  and  the  best  may  be  written  on  the  board.  In  this 
way  will  be  built  up  an  eclectic  composition  consisting  of  the 
best  work  of  the  best  individuals.  This  may  then  be  erased 
and  the  class  set  to  work  on  the  writing  of  the  story  itself. 
Then  at  the  second,  or  if  two  periods  have  already  been  taken 
up,  at  the  third  period,  the  pupils'  work  may  be  compared  with 
the  model.  Here  the  aim  should  be  to  show  where  specific 
words  have  been  used  with  better  effect  in  the  model  than  in 
the  story  written  by  the  pupils.  From  this  part  of  the  lesson, 
the  correction,  etc.,  will  proceed  as  was  outlined  in  the  work 
on  letters  and  as  will  be  later  more  fully  developed. 


2IO  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

Summary. — Before  original  work  in  narration  is  begun,  there 
should  be  a  review  of  stories  studied  by  the  "Variation"  method. 
The  class  should  be  brought  clearly  to  understand  that  the  connec- 
tion in  narration  is  through  sequence  in  time.  The  formation  of  out- 
lines will  aid  in  making  this  understood.  The  difficulties  should  be 
carefully  graded.  Fourth  year  —  unbroken  narrative.  Fifth  year 
—  interpolated  descriptions  of  persons  or  of  places.  Sixth  year  — 
study  of  the  diction  particularly  adapted  to  narration. 


CHAPTER  XIX 
COMPOSITION  —  DESCRIPTION 

Models  to  be  Studied 

Fourth  Year  —  First  Half 

The  Stattie  of  the  Olympian  Zeus 

The  statue  of  the  Olympian  Zeus  was  a  fine  piece  of  work.  The 
great  sculptor  Phidias  made  it  as  beautiful  and  grand  as  he  could. 
It  was  in  honor  of  the  mighty  Zeus,  the  father  of  all  the  gods. 

The  throne  upon  which  this  figure  was  seated  was  made  of  cedar- 
wood  and  ebony,  and  richly  set  with  precious  stones. 

The  face,  the  chest,  the  arms,  and  the  feet  of  the  statue  were  of 
ivory;  the  hair  and  beard  were  of  solid  gold  with  jewelled  flowers. 
In  one  outstretched  hand  stood  a  golden  figure  of  the  Winged  Vic- 
tory; in  the  other  was  a  mighty  scepter.  Forty  feet  high  was  this 
grand  statue.  He  sat  there  with  a  look  sublime  and  imapproachable, 
yet  not  stern  or  angry. 

The  old  Greeks  used  to  say,  "Not  to  have  seen  the  Olympian  Zeus 
was  indeed  a  misfortune  to  any  man." 

—  Andrews'  "Ten  Boys." 

Fourth  Year  —  Second  Half 

Description  of  an  Apartment  at  Bracehridge  Hall 

It  was  a  large,  old-fashioned  hall.  Over  the  heavy  projecting 
fireplace  was  suspended  a  picture  of  a  warrior  in  armor,  standing  by 
a  white  horse,  and  on  the  opposite  wall  hung  a  helmet,  buckler  and 
lance.  At  one  end  an  enormous  pair  of  antlers  were  inserted  in  the 
wall,  the  branches  serving  as  hooks  on  which  to  suspend  hats,  whips 


212  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

and  spurs,  and  in  the  corners  of  the  apartment  were  fowling-pieces, 
fishing-rods,  and  other  sporting  implements.  The  furniture  was 
of  the  cumbrous  workmanship  of  former  days,  though  some  articles 
of  modern  convenience  had  been  added,  and  the  oaken  floor  had 
been  carpeted,  so  the  whole  presented  an  odd  mixture  of  parlor  and 
haU. 

The  grate  had  been  removed  from  the  wide,  overwhelming  fire- 
place to  make  way  for  a  fire  of  wood,  in  the  midst  of  which  was  an 
enormous  log,  glowing  and  blazing,  and  sending  forth  a  vast  volume 

—  Washington  Irving,  "Sketch.  Book." 


Fifth  Year  —  First  Half 

An  Eskimo  Hut 

On  the  slope,  fifty  yards  from  the  beech,  in  the  midst  of  rocks  and 
boulders,  stood  the  Eskimo  settlement,  consisting  of  two  stone  huts 
twenty  yards  apart.  It  was  more  fitted  for  the  dweUing  place  of 
wild  animals  than  for  the  home  of  human  beings.  Around  it  was 
a  wilderness  of  snow  and  ice.  In  the  evening  while  the  men  in  our 
tent  were  fast  asleep,  I  paid  a  visit  to  one  of  these  huts.  I  found 
it  to  be  in  shape  much  like  an  old-fashioned  country  clay  oven, 
square  in  front,  and  sloping  back  into  the  rock  strewn  hill. 

To  get  inside,  I  was  obHged  to  crawl  on  my  hands  and  knees 
through  a  covered  passage  about  twelve  feet  long.  .  .  .  The  whole 
interior  was  about  ten  feet  in  diameter  and  five  and  a  half  feet  high. 
The  walls  were  made  of  stones,  moss,  bones  of  whales  and  other 
animals.  They  were  lined  with  seal  or  fox  skins  stretched  to  dry. 
In  the  cracks  between  the  stones  were  thrust  whipstocks  and  bone 
pegs,  on  which  hung  coils  of  harpoon  lines. 

The  floor  was  covered  with  thin  flat  stones.  Half  of  this  floor, 
at  the  back  part  of  the  hut,  was  elevated  a  foot.  This  elevator  was 
called  "breck,"  and  it  served  as  both  bed  and  seat,  being  covered 
with  dry  grass  over  which  were  spread  bear  and  dog  skins.  The  front 
of  the  hut  was  square  and  through  it,  above  the  passageway  opened 
a  window.  A  square  sheet  of  strips  of  dried  intestine,  sewed  together, 
admitted  the  hght. 


DESCRIPTION  213 

The  air  of  the  place  was  insufferable  except  for  a  short  time.  .  .  . 
There  may  have  been  a  vent  hole  but  I  did  not  see  any.  I  was 
indeed  glad  to  get  back  to  my  people. 

—  Isaac  I.  Hayes,  "An  Arctic  Boat  Journey." 

Fifth  Year  —  Second  Half 
View  from  a  Pier  in  Geneva  Harbor 

The  pier  conomands  a  view  of  the  lake  and  town.  How  crystal 
clear  is  the  water  of  the  lake! 

Forty  miles  away  is  the  king  of  Alpine  peaks,  Mount  Blanc.  This 
snow-crowned  monarch  is  most  beautiful  as  it  lifts  its  mighty  mass 
towards  heaven. 

Turning  our  eyes  towards  the  town  we  see  the  lake  shore  in  the 
form  of  a  crescent  with  a  park  along  its  inner  circle.  On  either  side 
of  the  park,  hotels  and  mansions  front  the  lake.  Their  brilliant 
cream  color  makes  a  fine  contrast  with  the  blue  of  the  sky  and  water. 
Beyond  the  park  and  hotels  the  city  rises  in  a  pile.  Far  in  the  west 
the  hills  make  a  dark  line  against  the  sky. 

On  the  lake  steamboats  cut  the  blue  water  and  leave  a  trail  of  white 
foam.    Heavy  barges  loaded  with  stone  drift  past. 

Here  the  River  Rhone  issues  from  the  lake  with  a  current  swift 
and  powerful.    Looking  down  the  river  we  see  a  vista  of  bridges. 
—  Adapted  from  Little's  "Journeys  in  Switzerland." 

Sixth  Year  —  First  Half 
The  Old  Apple  Dealer 

He  is  a  small  man,  with  grey  hair  and  grey  stubby  beard,  and  is 
invariably  clad  in  a  shabby  surtout  of  snuff-color,  closely  buttoned, 
and  half  concealing  a  pair  of  grey  pantaloons;  the  whole  dress,  though 
clean  and  entire,  being  evidently  flimsy  with  much  wear.  His  face, 
thin,  withered,  furrowed,  and  with  features  which  even  age  has  failed 
to  render  impressive,  has  a  frost-bitten  aspect. 

He  sits  on  a  bench  in  the  depot  room,  and  before  him,  on  the  floor, 
are  deposited  two  baskets,  of  a  capacity  to  contain  his  whole  stock 
in  trade.    Across,  from  one  basket  to  the  other,  extends  a  board  on 


214  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

which  are  displayed  a  plate  of  cakes  and  gingerbread,  some  russet 
and  red-cheeked  apples,  and  a  box  containing  variegated  sticks  of 
candy;  together  with  that  delectable  condiment  known  by  chil- 
dren as  Gibraltar  rock,  neatly  done  up  in  white  paper.  There  is 
likewise  a  half-peck  measure  of  cracked  walnuts,  and  two  or  three 
tin  half-pints  or  gills  filled  with  the  nut  kernels,  ready  for  pur- 
chasers. Such  are  the  small  commodities  with  which  our  old  friend 
comes  daily  before  the  world  ministering  to  its  petty  needs  and  Httle 
freaks  of  appetite,  and  seeking  thence  the  solid  subsistence  —  so 
far  as  he  may  subsist  —  of  his  life. 

• — Nathaniel  Hawthorne,  "Mosses  from  an  Old  Manse." 


Sixth  Year  —  Second  Half 

In  my  school-house  ...  I  seem  to  see  the  square  most  readily 
in  the  Scotch  mist  which  so  often  filled  it,  loosening  the  stones  and 
choking  the  drains.  There  was  then  no  rattle  of  rain  against  my  win- 
dow sill,  nor  dancing  of  diamond  drops  on  the  roofs,  but  blobs  of  water 
grew  on  the  panes  of  glass  to  reel  heavily  down  them.  Then  the  sod- 
den square  would  have  shed  abundant  tears  if  you  could  have  taken 
it  in  your  hands  and  wrung  it  like  a  dripping  cloth. 

At  such  a  time  the  square  would  be  empty  but  for  one  vegetable- 
cart  left  in  the  care  of  a  lean  colly,  which,  tied  to  the  wheel,  whined 
and  shivered  underneath.  Pools  of  water  gather  in  the  coarse  sacks 
that  have  been  spread  over  the  potatoes  and  bundles  of  greens,  which 
turn  to  manure  in  their  lidless  barrels.  The  eyes  of  the  whimpering 
dog  never  leave  a  black  close  over  which  hangs  the  sign  of  the  Bull, 
probably  the  refuge  of  the  hawker.  At  long  intervals  a  farmer's 
gig  rumbles  over  the  bumpy,  ill-paved  square,  or  a  native,  with  his 
head  buried  in  his  coat,  peeps  out  of  doors,  skurries  across  the  way, 
and  vanishes.  Hosts  of  the  leading  shops  are  here,  and  the  decorous 
draper  ventures  a  few  yards  from  the  pavement  to  scan  the  sky, 
or  note  the  effect  of  his  new  arrangement  in  scarfs.  Planted  against 
his  door  is  the  butcher,  Henders  Todd,  white-aproned,  and  with  a 
knife  in  his  hand,  gazing  interestedly  at  the  draper,  for  a  mere  man 
may  look  at  an  elder.  The  tinsmith  brings  out  his  steps,  and  mount- 
ing them,  stealthily  removes  the  sauce-pans  and  pepper-pots  that 


DESCRIPTION  215 

dangle  on  a  wire  above  his  signboard.    Pulling  to  his  door  he  shuts 
out  the  foggy  light  that  showed  in  his  solder-strewn  workshop. 

The  square  is  deserted  again.  A  bundle  of  sloppy  parsley  slips 
from  the  hawker's  cart  and  topples  over  the  wheel  in  driblets.  The 
puddles  in  the  sacks  overflow  and  run  together.  The  dog  has  twisted 
his  chain  round  a  barrel,  and  yelps  sharply.  As  if  in  response  comes 
a  rush  of  other  dogs.  A  terrified  fox  terrier  tears  across  the  square 
with  half  a  score  of  mongrels,  the  butcher's  mastiff  and  some  collies 
at  his  heels;  he  is  doubtless  a  stranger  who  has  insulted  them  by  his 
glossy  coat.  For  two  seconds  the  square  shakes  to  an  invasion  of 
dogs,  and  then,  again,  there  is  only  one  dog  in  sight. 

—  Barrie,  "Auld  Licht  Idylls,"  Chap.  I. 

A  composition  exercise  in  description  permits  the  child  to 
express  through  the  medium  of  words  a  picture  which  he  has 
in  mind,  so  that  from  his  account  a  reader  can  reconstruct  that 
picture,  forming,  in  his  turn,  an  image  which  will  enable  him 
to  identify  the  object  if  at  any  time  it  is  actually  presented  to 
him.  It  is,  therefore,  absolutely  necessary  that  hand  in  hand 
with  the  study  of  the  model  should  go  the  study  of  the  picture 
of  the  object  described  in  the  model.  The  preparatory  step  in 
this  work  should  be  the  showing  of  a  large  picture  sufficiently 
rich  in  detail  to  afford  the  child  such  information  as  he  will 
need  in  describing  it.  It  would  be  an  added  advantage  if  smaller 
copies  of  this  picture  were  supplied  to  the  individual  pupils. 

The  teacher  may  begin  the  exercise  by  giving  the  name  of 
the  picture  and  a  brief  statement  of  something  interesting  con- 
nected with  it.  Thus,  with  the  model  of  the  fourth  year,  first 
half,  it  might  be  a  brief  account  of  the  wonderful  achievements 
of  the  Greeks  in  art.  With  the  other  model  of  the  fourth  year, 
it  might  be  a  reference  to  the  antiquity  of  some  of  the  great 
English  houses,  how  every  stone  seems  to  tell  a  story  that  is 
hallowed  with  age.  The  subjects  of  the  other  models  will 
suggest  to  the  teacher  a  similar  mode  of  approach. 

Before  the  model  itself  is  presented  to  the  children,  they  may 


2i6  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

be  called  upon  to  attempt  a  description  of  the  picture.  This 
should  be  oral,  and  the  aim  of  the  teacher  should  be  to  lead  the 
children  to  give  their  descriptions  in  some  ordered  form.  The 
natural  result  of  this  exercise  will  be  that  the  child  will  plunge 
at  once  into  the  description  of  the  picture  itself  and  that  when 
he  has  told  all  that  he  can  about  it,  he  will  consider  his  descrip- 
tion finished.  When  a  number  of  the  pupils  have,  been  called 
upon  in  this  way  to  give  an  oral  account  of  the  object  which  is 
described  in  the  model,  the  teacher  then  may  speak  briefly  of 
the  value  of  some  form  of  introduction  to  the  description.  She 
may  call  attention  to  the  fact  that  it  is  necessary,  very  frequently, 
to  place  the  object  definitely  or  to  tell  something  about  it  which 
will  arouse  interest  in  the  description.  Then  she  may  refer  to 
the  fact  that  when  the  description  has  been  completed,  it  is 
frequently  good  to  have  a  summary  or  to  give  an  estimate  of 
the  picture. 

The  model  should  then  be  presented  to  the  class.  The  first 
step  in  the  study  should  be  devoted  to  the  description  proper. 
In  the  model  for  the  fourth  year,  first  half,  this  is  found  in  the 
second  and  third  paragraphs.  The  second  may  be  explained 
as  describing  the  first  impression  one  gets  as  one  looks  at  the 
statue.  The  children  should  be  directed  to  note  that  the  para- 
graph is  general,  that  it  contains  no  element  of  description  which 
will  not  appeal  to  an  observer  even  at  a  considerable  distance. 
In  the  third  paragraph  the  teacher  may  direct  attention  to  the 
grouping  of  details.  A  good  description  does  not  give  an  account 
of  the  different  parts  of  an  object  in  a  hap-hazard,  random 
fashion.  Rather  does  it  attempt  to  adopt  from  the  outset 
some  standard  of  uniting  different  elements  so  as  to  keep  the 
mind  of  the  reader  intent  upon  one  aspect  of  the  thing.  In 
the  description  in  question,  the  first  element  of  unity  is  found 
in  the  materials  of  which  the  statue  was  made.  We  have  the 
account  of  the  four  parts  which  were  made  of  ivory;  then  the 
two  which  were  of  solid  gold. 


DESCRIPTION  217 

Once  more,  the  teacher  should  call  the  attention  of  the  class 
to  the  fact  that  the  description  proceeds  from  those  things 
which  can  be  most  readily  observed  from  a  distance  to  those 
things  which  can  be  noted  only  when  one  has  come  closer  to 
the  object.  Thus  one  may  easily  note  what  part  of  the  statue 
was  of  ivory,  what  part  was  of  gold,  and  what  were  the  objects 
held  in  the  hands.  The  next  detail  is  also  one  that  might 
appeal  to  an  observer  at  a  distance,  and  the  object  of  intro- 
ducing this  detail  of  size  or  of  measurement  is  to  make  the  statue 
a  concrete  thing  to  the  mind  of  the  child.  The  last  sentence  of 
this  paragraph,  describing  the  expression  on  the  face  of  the 
statue,  is  a  smaller  detail  which  requires  on  the  one  hand  no 
very  close  examination,  and  yet  calls  for  a  nearer  approach. 
In  other  words,  the  aim  of  the  study  should  be  to  emphasize 
these  two  points :  first,  that  the  distance  from  the  object  deter- 
mines the  kind  of  details  to  be  mentioned,  and  secondly,  that 
the  details  must  be  grouped  around  some  comimon  element,  in 
this  case  the  composition  of  the  statue. 

The  last  step  in  the  study  of  the  model  may  be  to  direct  the 
attention  of  the  class  to  the  value  and  effect  of  the  introductory 
and  the  concluding  paragraph.  The  former  gives  a  general 
judgment  of  the  statue,  mentions  incidentally  the  name  of 
the  sculptor,  and  tells  why  the  statue  was  made.  The  latter 
by  implication  summarizes  the  judgment  expressed  in  the  first 
paragraph  and  gives  the  general  impression  of  the  wonderful 
beauty  of  the  work. 

It  is  not  to  be  supposed,  however,  that  the  class  is  to  be  led 
to  believe  that  the  only  common  element  around  which  the 
details  are  to  be  grouped  is  the  element  of  material.  It  will 
be  well  perhaps  in  this  grade  to  restrict  direct  reference  al- 
together to  this,  but  the  children  should  be  allowed  to  use 
any  other  idea  for  the  purpose  of  grouping  details. 

In  the  model  selected  for  study  in  the  second  half  of  the  fourth 
year,  we  have  an  entirely  different  mode  of  approach.    Here 


2i8  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

the  value  and  the  artistic  effect  of  the  abrupt  introduction  should 
be  made  clear  to  the  class.  The  introductory  sentence  is  short, 
arouses  interest,  and  in  a  way  creates  a  general  though  very 
vague  picture  of  the  hall  itself.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  entire 
model  is  merely  an  amplification  of  what  is  suggested  in  the 
introductory  sentence.  When  this  point  has  been  made  clear 
to  the  class,  the  teacher  may  lead  the  pupils  to  note  the  order 
in  which  the  different  details  are  given.  The  first  thing  men- 
tioned is  what  probably  was  the  most  striking  object  in  the 
entire  room.  This  is  followed  by  a  description  of  what  was  on 
the  opposite  wall  of  the  room.  The  teacher  should  take  advan- 
tage of  this  to  call  the  attention  of  the  class  to  the  element  of 
balance  or  symmetry  in  description.  Examples  of  this  will  be 
found  in  any  class-room,  and  in  the  architecture  of  any  build- 
ing. It  is  a  natural  tendency  for  us  when  once  our  attention 
has  been  called  to  some  object  in  a  general  picture,  to  see  what 
other  object  is  present  to  balance  the  first. 

The  third  sentence  of  the  first  paragraph  carries  out  practically 
the  same  order  of  development.  In  the  last  sentence  the  de- 
scription of  the  furniture  comes  in  naturally  since  after  noting 
the  objects  hung  aroimd  on  the  walls,  one  turns  the  attention 
to  the  contents  of  the  room  itself.  The  attention  of  the  class 
should  be  directed  to  the  incongruity  of  the  two.  The  wall 
decorations  gave  the  effect  of  a  hall;  the  contents  were  those 
usually  associated  with  a  parlor,  and,  therefore,  the  close  of  the 
first  paragraph  gives  expression  to  the  conflict  of  the  two  ideas. 
We  may  safely  assume  that  the  first  aim  in  the  mind  of  the  per- 
son who  entered  this  room  was  to  classify  it.  That  is,  to  tell  what 
kind  of  room  it  was,  and  to  what  sort  of  use  it  was  probably  put. 
This  may  safely  be  assumed  to  be  the  aim  of  any  similar  de- 
scription and  the  class  should  be  called  upon,  in  their  original 
work,  to  attempt  to  achieve  a  similar  result.  In  this  case,  the 
classification  was  not  really  complete  since  the  author  can  only 
say  that  the  whole  presented  an  odd  mixture  of  parlor  and  hall. 


DESCRIPTION  219 

With  the  first  paragraph  devoted  to  classification,  the  second 
is  directed  to  a  more  detailed  description  of  the  most  interesting 
object  in  the  room.  This  is,  in  this  particular  case,  the  grate. 
The  second  paragraph  is  more  expositional  than  descriptive. 
Before  the  study  of  the  model  is  completed  the  children  may  be 
called  upon  to  write  one  or  two  sentences  to  describe  the  effect 
of  this  glowing  fire  in  the  fireplace.  Four  points  should  have 
been  made  clear  to  the  class.  First,  the  value  of  the  abrupt 
introduction;  secondly,  the  attempt  at  initial  classification; 
thirdly,  the  detailed  description  of  the  most  striking  feature; 
and  fourthly,  the  creation  of  a  general  emotional  effect  in  the 
observer. 

The  model  for  study  in  the  first  half  of  the  fifth  year  brings 
us  to  a  more  minute  study  of  the  technique  of  description.  The 
four  paragraphs  follow  a  definite  order.  The  first  gives  the 
general  impression  of  the  entire  settlement  from  a  distance,  and 
tells  the  occasion  on  which  the  writer  made  a  visit  to  the  huts 
in  order  to  see  what  they  were  like.  The  last  sentence  of  this 
paragraph  is  a  description  of  one  of  these  huts  as  it  appears  to 
an  observer  from  without.  The  second  paragraph,  which  gives 
the  description  of  the  interior  in  general,  is  accompanied  by  a 
slight  narrative  detail  which  shows  how  the  writer  came  to 
change  his  view-point.  In  all  descriptions  of  this  kind,  the 
class  should  be  required  to  introduce  this  detail.  Where  this 
narrative  element  is  not  present,  we  are  to  assume  that  the  ob- 
server continues  to  stand  in  one  place.  If  the  description  is  of 
such  a  nature  that  it  calls  for  a  change  of  position,  the  account 
should  include  a  statement  of  how  the  observer  moved  from 
place  to  place.  The  third  paragraph  is  purely  descriptive  and 
shows  the  general  plan  of  all  descriptions;  namely,  that  the 
progress  should  be  from  the  general  impression  to  the  various 
details.  The  last  paragraph  should  be  particularly  dwelt  upon 
with  the  class  as  describing  a  detail  which  could  become  evident 
to  the  observer  only  after  a  more  or  less  prolonged  stay  in  the 


220  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

hut.  It  would  have  been  an  inconsistency  to  refer  to  the  insuf- 
ferable air  at  the  moment  of  entrance.  It  would  have  been 
much  more  natural,  in  fact,  to  speak  of  the  atmosphere  within 
the  hut  by  contrast  with  the  actual  air  as  being  perhaps  too 
warm.  It  would  be  only  after  the  writer  had  stayed  inside  for 
some  time  that  the  air  would  become  insufferable.  Finally,  the 
last  sentence  of  the  description  gives  the  necessary  narrative 
element  which  takes  the  writer  back  to  the  original  view-point. 

The  model  chosen  for  study  in  the  second  half  of  the  fifth 
year  is  one  which  calls  for  the  description  of  details  noted  in 
succession,  while  the  view-point  of  the  observer  remains  the 
same.  It  is  not  necessary  to  call  attention  to  any  detailed 
mode  of  treatment.  The  order  of  topics  in  the  paragraph  will 
suggest  to  the  teacher  the  right  method  of  approach. 

The  model  for  the  first  half  of  the  sixth  year  is  on  a  subject 
that  will  always  appeal  to  a  class.  The  greatest  care  should  be 
given  to  the  choice  of  the  right  adjectives.  In  fact,  it  would  be 
well  for  the  teacher  to  have  the  children  give,  in  a  preliminary 
exercise,  numbers  of  adjectives  describing  various  parts  of  the 
physiognomy  or  the  apparel  of  a  person.  This  will  increase 
their  working  vocabulary.  When  they  come  to  their  original 
work,  the  right  motive  may  be  supplied  by  having  them  write 
their  description  without  naming  the  person.  The  test  of  the 
successful  description  is  that  another  pupil  reading  the  account 
written  by  one  of  his  classmates  will  be  able  to  identify  the 
person.  An  exercise  of  this  sort  is  a  source  of  never  ending 
delight  to  a  class. 

The  model  for  study  in  the  second  half  of  the  sixth  year 
introduces  a  new  element  in  that  the  same  object  is  described 
at  different  times.  In  the  selection  that  is  given  for  study,  this 
difference  of  time  is  utilized  only  for  the  purpose  of  introduc- 
ing new  details.  In  the  original  work  done  by  the  children, 
however,  the  aim  should  be  to  have  them  seek  to  produce 
different  kinds  of  effects.    Thus  they  may  describe  the  class- 


DESCRIPTION  221 

room  so  that  it  will  give  the  effect  of  cheerfulness,  and  the 
second  paragraph  may  be  devoted  to  a  description  of  the  same 
room  for  the  purpose  of  giving  the  effect  of  gloom.  Prelim- 
inary exercises  would  be  to  have  the  children  arrange  in  double 
columns  adjectives  descriptive  of  the  same  actual  condition, 
and  yet  chosen  in  one  case  so  as  to  give  a  bright  effect,  in  the 
other,  to  give  a  somber  effect.  In  the  beginning  this  work  will 
be  extremely  imsatisfactory,  but  if  the  teacher  exercises  a 
reasonable  amount  of  patience,  the  result  will  improve  wonder- 
fully. 

Summary.  — The  study  of  the  object  should  proceed  hand  in  hand 
with  the  formal  work  in  description.  Training  in  observation  is  a 
part  of  the  training  in  the  writing  of  description.  Children  should  be 
led  to  proceed  from  the  general  effect  to  details,  from  the  striking  first 
appearance  to  a  closer  examination.  The  effect  upon  the  descrip- 
tion of  a  change  in  the  point  of  view  of  the  observer  should  be  made 
clear  to  the  class  by  a  careful  study  of  the  model.  In  the  more 
advanced  work,  such  details  should  be  selected  as  will  tend  to  pro- 
duce a  desired  effect  upon  the  mood  of  the  reader,  while  still  remain- 
ing true  to  the  real  purpose  of  description;  viz.,  the  identification 
of  some  object  or  scene. 


CHAPTER  XX 
COMPOSITION  —  EXPOSITION 

Models  to  be  Studied 

Fourth  Year  —  First  Half 
How  to  Play  Handball 

Handball  is  a  game  played  by  boys  or  men.  A  ball  and  something 
against  which  to  throw  it  are  needed.  Boys  often  use  any  blank  wall 
or  fence  to  play  against,  but  when  grown  men  play  they  have  courts 
built  for  the  purpose. 

The  ball  is  thrown  against  a  wall  and  then  struck  with  the  palm 
of  the  hand  as  it  rebounds.  The  object  is  to  keep  it  from  the  ground 
as  long  as  possible.  The  player  who  keeps  the  ball  in  the  air,  between 
his  hand  and  the  waU,  the  longest,  wins. 

Fourth  Year  —  Second  Half 
A  Home-Made  Kaleidoscope 

Get  three  strips  of  glass  about  a  foot  long  and  two  or  three  inches 
vdde,  a  piece  of  semi-transparent  writing  paper,  and  some  dark  col- 
ored paper. 

Tie  the  strips  together.  The  strings  will  keep  the  glass  in  posi- 
tion. Cut  a  piece  of  the  writing  and  of  the  dark  paper  so  they  will 
fit  the  ends  of  the  prism. 

Cut  a  small  round  hole  in  the  middle  of  the  dark  paper  for  the 
observer's  eye.  Fasten  the  overlapping  edges  of  these  papers  to 
the  glass  with  mucilage.  Then  cover  the  sides  of  the  prism  with 
the  dark  paper. 

Drop  a  few  bits  of  colored  glass,  or.  beads,  through  the  hole,  and 


EXPOSITION  223 

turn  the  writing  paper  end  to  the  light.     Place  your  eye  at  the  hole 
and  keep  the  prism  slowly  turning. 

A  kaleidoscope  made  in  this  manner  is  very  serviceable. 

Beard,  "  American  Boy's  Handy  Book  " 

Fifth  Year  —  Second  Half 

The  Fire-DrUl 

Clang!  Clang!  Clang!  Three  bells!  Every  boy  in  the  school 
knows  what  that  signal  means.  Perfect  silence  reigns.  All  eyes 
are  centered  on  the  teacher  awaiting  his  (or  her)  commands.  In 
less  than  thirty  seconds,  in  response  to  the  teacher's  brief,  quiet, 
"Class,  stand,"  a  line  is  formed  with  the  class  president  in  the 
lead. 

A  second  bell  rings.  This  is  a  signal  for  the  class  to  move. 
Quickly  but  quietly  the  boys  move  to  their  allotted  places  in  the 
yard.  On  arriving  there  they  stand  in  rigid  postures  awaiting  the 
principal's  visit  of  inspection.  To  meet  the  approval  of  the  princi- 
pal there  must  be  absolute  quiet  and  perfect  lines. 

A  whistle  is  now  blown  which  is  the  signal  for  the  boys  to  "about 
face  "  and  return  to  their  rooms.  This  part  of  the  drill  must  be  in 
keeping  with  the  remainder  of  the  drill,  i.e.,  it  must  be  executed 
quickly  and  quietly. 

Speed  in  execution  and  perfect  order  are  the  requisites  of  a  good 
fire-drill. 

Sixth  Year  —  First  Half 

The  True  Gentleman 

Boys  make  a  great  mistake  about  the  term  "the  true  gentleman." 
A  gentleman  is  one  who  can  live  at  ease,  they  think,  —  a  rich,  popular 
citizen  who  is  honored  for  his  position.  If  this  were  a  correct  view, 
comparatively  few  boys  could  become  a  gentleman.  But  it  is  an 
error;  and  it  should  be  discarded  as  unworthy  of  thought  or  attention. 
Any  boy  can  develop  into  a  true  gentleman,  if  he  will,  no  matter  how 
humble  his  lot  in  Hfe. 

A  man  may  be  poor,  unhonored,  and  probably  uncultured,  never- 
theless his  gentleness,  kindness,  fidelity,  or  a  sense  of  obligation  and 


224  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

honor  prove  that  he  is  a  gentleman.    He  is  manly,  thoughtful  of 
others,  and  a  true  friend. 

Sir  Philip  Sidney  was  the  pattern  to  all  England  of  a  perfect  gentle- 
man; but,  then,  he  was  the  hero  that,  on  the  field  of  Tutthan,  pushed 
away  the  cup  of  cold  water  from  his  own  fevered  and  parched  hps, 
and  held  it  out  to  the  dying  soldier  at  his  side. 

Washington  was  a  gentleman  of  the  old  school  whose  bow  of  rec- 
ognition was  like  a  blessing  to  both  old  and  young.  One  day,  in 
company  with  a  friend,  he  passed  a  colored  man,  who  saluted  him 
with  respect.  Washington  acknowledged  his  poHteness  with  a  bow, 
whereupon  his  friend  objected  to  such  deference  to  a  negro.  "Would 
you  have  him  be  more  gentlemanly  than  I?  "  answered  the  great  man. 

A  man  once  found  fault  with  Robert  Burns  for  bowing  in  too 
friendly  a  fashion  to  a  farmer  in  the  streets  of  Edinburg.  Burns 
repHed,  "It  was  not  the  greatcoat,  the  scone  bonnet,  and  the  Saun- 
ders boot-hose  that  I  spoke  to,  but  the  man  that  was  in  them." 
Burns  was  a  gentleman. 

These  facts  show  that  neither  dress,  aristocratic  airs,  nor  anything 
of  that  sort  can  make  a  gentleman.  Simplicity  rather  than  affec- 
tation, honesty  rather  than  hypocrisy,  a  noble  aim  rather  than 
arrogant  pride,  gentleness  rather  than  overbearing  assumption,  resolu- 
tion rather  than  effeminacy,  and  character  rather  than  mannerism, 
constitutes  the  true  gentleman. 

—  Adapted  from  Thayer's  "Ethics  of  Success." 

Sixth  Year  —  Second  Half 

Spiders  and  Insects 

Spiders  are  not  insects.  Many  people  think  that  spiders  and 
insects  belong  to  the  same  family. 

The  body  of  an  insect  is  divided  into  three  parts.  If  you  examine 
the  body  of  a  spider,  you  will  find  it  divided  into  only  two  parts. 
Spiders  have  four  pairs  of  legs;  insects  have  only  three  pairs  of  legs. 
Spiders  have  four  simple  eyes;  insects,  on  the  other  hand,  have  com- 
pound eyes. 

If  you  could  look  inside  the  body  of  a  spider,  you  would  see  that 
it  does  not  breathe  as  msects  do.    All  insects  breathe  through  Uttle 


EXPOSITION  225 

tubes  that  run  all  over  the  body,  and  open  into  a  row  of  holes  along 
each  side.  A  few  spiders  have  air  tubes  also,  but  the  breathing 
apparatus  of  the  greater  number  of  spiders  consists  of  Httle  air  sacs 
opening  on  the  under  surface  of  the  body. 

Insects  always  go  through  a  number  of  changes  after  they  are 
hatched;  but  the  spider  undergoes  no  transformation.  A  young 
spider  is  of  the  same  shape  as  an  old  one.  So,  you  see  that  spiders 
are  not  insects. 

All  spiders  spin  webs  of  some  sort  through  all  their  lives;  while 
no  insect  can  spin  a  web  of  any  kind  after  it  has  passed  through  the 
second  stage.  The  silkworm  can  spin,  but  when  the  silkworm  be- 
comes a  moth,  it  can  spin  no  more. 

In  just  the  same  way  that  the  first  step  in  the  study  of  the 
description  should  be  to  show  a  picture  of  the  object  to  be 
described,  so  the  introductory  step  in  an  exposition  should  be 
to  make  the  object  or  to  do  the  thing.  The  model  suggested 
for  the  sixth  year  is  static,  and  is  intended  to  develop  certain 
ideas  in  the  technique  of  this  form  of  composition.  In  the 
fourth  and  fifth  years,  however,  the  model  is  based  upon  some 
actual  event  or  game.  Before  writing  the  composition,  in  fact 
before  studying  the  model,  the  children  either  should  go  through 
the  action  itself  or  should  be  interested  observers  while  others 
are  doing  it.  In  the  fourth  year  the  members  of  the  class 
may  arrange  to  play  a  game  of  hand-ball  in  the  yard,  and  the 
selection  of  the  players  and  assignment  to  their  respective  places, 
and  the  conduct  of  the  game,  should  be  actually  gone  through. 
Thereupon,  the  class  should  return  to  the  room  and  an  oral 
accoimt  of  what  has  just  been  done  should  be  given.  Wher- 
ever possible,  the  names  of  the  players  should  be  mentioned. 
If  the  boy  who  is  giving  an  account  of  the  game  is  one  who 
took  part,  he  should  be  required  to  use  the  first  person  in  his 
exposition. 

In  the  second  half  of  the  fourth  year,  the  teacher  should 
actually  make  a  kaleidoscope  in  the  class  room.    The  class  may 


226  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

note  what  the  teacher  is  doing,  even  writing  down  the  list  of 
the  materials  employed,  and  the  order  in  which  they  are  put 
together.  In  the  fifth  year,  fire-drill  should  be  held  so  as  to 
give  an  immediate  and  concrete  presentation  of  that  which  is 
to  form  the  subject  matter  of  the  exposition. 

After  this  the  treatment  is  extremely  simple.  In  general 
it  may  be  said  that  an  exposition  consists  of  three  parts. 
First,  the  materials;  secondly,  their  putting  together;  thirdly, 
their  use.  This  plan  is  of  equal  value  whether  one  is  telling 
of  the  making  of  an  object,  or  of  the  playing  of  a  game.  In 
the  fifth  year,  the  model  brings  in  two  valuable  points,  one  of 
which  is  entirely  new  in  the  work  thus  far  outlined.  The  first 
has  already  been  used  in  the  description.  It  is  to  show  the 
value  of  the  abrupt  introduction  in  attracting  and  riveting  the 
attention  of  the  reader.  The  new  point  is  the  use  of  the  present 
tense  for  the  purpose  of  securing  vividness  and  giving  the  air 
of  suppressed  excitement.  It  will  require  careful  attention  on 
the  part  of  the  teacher  to  have  the  children  keep  this  tense 
uniform  throughout  the  composition. 

In  the  sixth  year,  the  model  for  the  first  half  is  purely  formal, 
and  the  particular  aim  of  the  teacher  should  be  to  show  how  an 
anecdote  may  be  used  to  make  clear  an  idea  in  the  mind  of  the 
writer.  The  model  for  the  second  half  is  to  show  the  value  and 
the  use  of  contrast  and  comparison  for  the  purpose  of  making 
clear  two  related  objects.  It  is  unnecessary  to  dwell  at  length 
on  the  mode  of  development. 

Summary. — The  writing  of  an  exposition  should  go  hand  in  hand 
with,  the  action  that  is  the  subject  of  the  composition.  This  form  of 
exercise  may  be  made  to  afford  valuable  practice  in  the  use  of  the 
present  tense. 


CHAPTER  XXI 
THE    CORRECTION    OF    COMPOSITIONS 

It  is  probable  that  if  teachers  were  asked  why  the  correction 
of  class  exercises  in  composition  is  included  as  part  of  the  work, 
in  nine  cases  out  of  ten  they  would  answer  that  the  object  is 
to  secure  a  correct  form  of  composition.  It  is  this  notion  of 
the  purpose  of  the  work,  together  with  the  methods  that  are 
determined  by  this  idea,  that  has  made  the  work  in  composition 
correction  so  imsatisfactory  in  the  past.  Here  even  more  than 
in  any  other  branch  of  the  work  the  result  or  the  product  is  of 
slight  importance  compared  with  the  power  which  it  should  be 
the  aim  of  the  teacher  to  develop.  Very  few  of  us  indeed  are 
so  facile  with  our  pens  that  we  can  turn  out  in  a  first  draft  a 
perfect  copy  of  what  we  wish  to  say.  Most  of  us  are  compelled 
to  look  over  our  work  carefully,  to  correct  it,  to  be  perpetually 
on  the  lookout  for  errors  in  English,  in  punctuation,  and  to  a 
somewhat  less  degree  in  spelling.  It  should  be  the  aim  of  the 
teacher  to  give  to  the  children  the  power  intelligently  to  look 
over  their  work  with  a  view  to  bringing  that  work  up  to  the 
standard  of  correctness.  Moreover,  it  should  be  the  aim  of 
the  teacher  to  give  to  the  children  certain  ideals  of  correct 
expression,  the  application  of  which  will  constitute  the  actual 
work  of  correction. 

It  would  be  too  much  to  expect  that  in  the  elementary  school 
individuality  of  style  should  be  developed.  If  it  be  true  that 
the  style  is  the  man,  it  is  impossible  that  there  should  be  a 
peculiarly  distinctive  style  before  there  is  a  complete  develop- 
ment and  assertion  of  the  individual.     It  is  a  very  rare  thing 


228  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

to  have  a  distinctive  style  of  penmanship  among  children  below 
the  secondary  school.  How  much  more  rare,  therefore,  would 
it  be  to  find  a  child  who  has  already  developed  a  uniqueness  of 
literary  expression.  Three  fundamental  qualities  of  style  may, 
however,  even  though  indirectly,  be  brought  to  the  focalized 
consciousness  of  the  children.  It  is  not  necessary  that  the 
principles  of  these  quahties  of  style  be  impressed  upon  the  chil- 
dren nor  is  it  even  necessary  or  desirable  that  the  children  should 
know  the  names  of  the  qualities  as  such.  It  will  be  quite  suf- 
ficient for  them  to  be  required  to  put  into  actual  use  those  forms 
of  expression  which  will  result  in  the  qualities  desired.  These 
elements  of  style  are  the  familiar  ones  known  as  clearness, 
force,  and  elegance.  The  function  of  clearness  is  to  enable 
the  writer  to  make  himself  understood;  that  of  force,  to  hold 
the  attention  or  the  interest  of  the  reader;  and  that  of  elegance, 
to  please  the  reader.  In  other  words,  clearness  will  make  an 
appeal  to  the  intellectual  side,  force  to  the  emotions,  and  ele- 
gance to  the  taste.  From  the  very  beginning  of  the  work  in 
the  study  of  the  models  in  reading  lessons,  and  in  the  teacher's 
own  estimate  of  the  children's  work,  there  should  be  reference 
continually  made  to  phrases  and  words  which  will  give  these 
qualities.  Clearness,  of  course,  will  readily  appeal  to  the 
children.  Force  and  elegance  are  to  be  presented  to  them 
through  the  actual  cases  where  by  the  proper  choice  of  phrase, 
they  will  bring  about  the  desired  effects. 

When  we  come,  however,  to  the  matter  of  formal  correction 
of  pupils'  work,  we  are  brought  face  to  face  with  one  of  the  most 
important  problems  in  connection  with  composition.  As  has 
already  been  suggested,  it  must  carefully  be  borne  in  mind 
that  the  object  is  not  the  reproduction  of  a  perfect  composi- 
tion. It  should  be  the  aim  of  the  teacher  to  develop  in  the 
child  a  power  of  correction.  Hence,  there  must,  in  the  first 
place,  be  some  degree  of  progression  in  the  work  of  correction. 
It  will  be  entirely  useless  to  attempt  to  correct  everything  in 


THE  CORRECTION  OF  COMPOSITIONS  229 

every  composition.  No  child  should  be  expected  to  turn  out  an 
absolutely  perfect  paper.  If  we  are  aiming  to  secure  a  habit  of 
correct  expression,  the  children  must  be  allowed  to  focalize  upon 
habits,  one  at  a  time,  and  not  be  asked  to  form  twenty,  thirty, 
or  forty  different  habits  of  correct  expression  simultaneously. 

To  select  merely  at  random  the  different  forms  of  speech 
upon  which  the  teacher  should  concentrate  in  any  single  month 
or  in  any  single  period,  would  be  totally  arbitrary  and  an  almost 
hopeless  task.  If  our  work  were  not  to  a  great  extent  deter- 
mined by  the  exigencies  of  a  large  school  system,  we  would  say 
that  the  teacher  has  merely  to  determine  what  is  the  most 
common  error  in  the  class  during  any  one  exercise  and  to 
concentrate  upon  that.  In  every  properly  graded  course, 
however,  there  should  be,  from,  let  us  say,  the  second  year 
through  the  sixth,  a  carefully  graded  series  of  drills  on  errors 
in  common  speech.  For  example  in  the  third  year,  the  emphasis 
might  be  upon  the  singular  and  the  plural  verbs.  In  the  fourth 
year,  it  might  be  on  the  right  use  of  comparatives  and  superla- 
tives. In  the  fifth  year,  on  the  right  use  of  tenses;  and  in  the 
sixth  year,  on  the  right  use  of  pronouns.  A  fair  sample  of  such 
a  graded  course  is  that  in  use  in  the  public  schools  in  New  York 
City. 

In  the  past,  all  work  of  this  kind  has  been  largely  unproduc- 
tive. That  is  to  say,  the  teachers  have  worked  at  this  matter  of 
correction  with  zeal  and  with  earnestness;  and  yet  results  have 
been  far  from  commensurate  with  the  amount  of  effort  they 
have  put  forth.  The  reason  for  this  is  not  far  to  seek.  With 
the  average  teacher,  the  test  of  the  successful  teaching  of  a 
drill  upon  one  of  the  common  errors  is  the  ability  of  the  child 
to  attack  a  number  of  sentences  which  contain  examples  of 
this  error,  and  to  recast  the  sentences  in  correct  form.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  however,  the  real  test  of  success  should  be  the 
power  to  use  these  forms  correctly  in  the  course  of  regular  com- 
position work.    The  average  teacher  measures  her  success  in 


230  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

teaching  by  the  work  of  the  children  when  correct  expression  is 
in  the  focus  of  their  consciousness.  The  real  test  comes  when 
the  expression  of  a  vital  content  occupies  the  focus  of  conscious- 
ness, while  the  desire  to  retain  correctness  of  form  is  relegated 
to  the  margin. 

We  need  a  series  of  exercises  in  which  the  children  may 
make  use  of  what  they  have  learned  in  formal  drill  lessons, 
but  make  use  in  such  a  way  as  to  duplicate  as  far  as  possible 
the  actual  condition  which  characterizes  the  situation  in  life. 
In  other  words,  when  the  children  are  no  longer  in  school  they 
will  not  be  writing  with  their  minds  centered  upon  this  rule 
of  grammar  or  that  correct  idiom.  Their  most  vital  interest 
will  be  in  what  they  are  saying,  and  correct  expression  should 
be  a  matter  of  habit  to  a  great  extent.  There  should  be  a  feel- 
ing for  the  right  form  without  hesitating  concerning  its  proper 
use.  The  extent  to  which  a  child  will  be  able  to  form  this 
desired  habit  of  correct  expression  will  be  determined  by  the 
extent  to  which  there  is  a  motive  for  the  study  of  the  correct 
form.  In  the  ordinary  method,  the  teacher  presents  inductively 
or  deductively  the  correct  form,  has  many  examples,  gives 
continued  drill  and  then  expects  the  children  always  to  use 
the  correct  form  in  their  written  and  spoken  language.  But 
there  has  really  been  no  vital  motive  for  the  study  of  the  form 
and,  hence,  the  use  of  the  correct  form  has  never  become  woven 
into  the  experience  of  the  child.  The  result  is  that  when  he 
writes  or  speaks,  he  does  so  with  a  complete  disregard  of  all  the 
rules  of  correct  expression  so  carefully  drilled  by  the  teacher. 

It  is  suggested  that  a  much  better  mode  of  procedure  would 
be  one  like  the  following:  The  graded  course  of  study  will  re- 
quire certain  drills  upon  correct  form  up  to  the  sixth  year.  The 
teacher  should  be  provided  with  two  distinct  lists.  In  the  first 
place,  she  should  know  what  are  the  forms  that  must  be  taken 
up  in  her  own  grade.  Secondly,  she  should  know  what  forms 
have  been  taken  up  in  the  earlier  grades. 


THE  CORRECTION  OF  COMPOSITIONS  231 

With  the  first  named  Hst,  however,  it  would  be  a  mistake, 
although  it  is  a  common  practice,  to  have  the  teacher  take  up 
the  first  error  in  this  list,  to  teach  it,  drill  upon  it,  and  then 
ask  the  children  carefully  to  observe  the  correct  form  when  they 
come  to  give  expression  to  their  thoughts.  There  is  no  reason 
why  a  certain  sequence  should  be  arbitrarily  adopted.  The 
order  in  which  the  forms  are  to  be  studied  is  determined  only 
by  the  needs  of  the  children.  If  a  number  of  children  in  the 
writing  of  a  composition  make  an  error  like,  **He  tried  to  do  it 
as  good  as  he  could,"  that  is  the  time  to  take  up  the  common 
errors  made  by  the  careless  use  of  adverbs  for  adjectives,  and 
vice  versa.  The  incorrect  form  may  be  shown.  If  necessary,  it 
may  be  written  on  the  blackboard.  The  correct  form  should 
be  put  in  its  place  and  the  reason  for  the  correction  should  be 
given.  In  the  lower  grades  this  reason  cannot  be  given  with  any 
degree  of  technical  accuracy.  In  the  higher  grades  if  the  study 
of  technical  grammar  has  begun,  the  reasons  are  to  be  given 
in  the  terminology  that  is  in  use  in  the  study  of  grammar.  The 
point  we  are  trying  to  make  is  simply  this:  The  motive  for 
the  study  of  the  correct  form  should  come  from  the  feeling  that 
the  children  have  that  the  incorrect  form  has  occurred  in  many 
of  their  compositions  and  that  the  correction  of  this  form  is 
necessary  if  they  are  to  write  with  accuracy  and  precision. 
The  advantage  does  not  lie  alone  in  the  fact  that  we  have  really 
supplied  a  motive.  The  application  to  the  composition  work 
is  direct  and  immediate,  and  there  are  more  chances  that  there 
will  be  a  general  use  of  this  correct  form  in  later  composition. 

The  period  for  the  study  of  this  form  should,  of  course,  be 
separate  from  the  usual  composition  period.  In  the  course  of 
the  writing,  the  teacher  walks  around  the  room  and  notices 
some  one  common  error.  If  this  is  one  that  has  already  been 
corrected  in  the  earlier  grades,  the  teacher  should  stop  the  work 
of  the  class,  call  attention  to  the  error,  call  upon  the  children 
to  recall  the  correct  form  as  they  learned  it  in  an  earlier  grade, 


232  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

to  give  the  reason  for  the  correction,  and  to  look  through  their 
composition  at  once  with  a  view  to  testing  their  own  work  in 
the  Ught  of  the  freshly  recalled  knowledge. 

If  the  error  noted  by  the  teacher  in  her  walk  around  the  room, 
is  one  that  has  not  yet  been  taken  up  in  the  course  and  is,  in 
fact,  set  down  for  focalized  study  in  a  higher  grade,  the  teacher 
may  give  the  correct  form  directly  to  the  individual  child  or, 
if  necessary,  to  the  entire  class  and  go  on  with  the  work 
without  any  attempt  at  explanation. 

If,  in  the  third  place,  the  error  noted  by  the  teacher  is  one 
that  is  part  of  her  own  grade  work  and  has  not  yet  been  taken 
up  by  the  class,  she  should  make  note  of  the  error  and,  if  possi- 
ble, copy  sentences  from  different  compositions  which  contain 
examples  of  the  mistake.  With  each  copy  she  should  write  the 
name  of  the  pupil  from  whose  composition  the  sentences  were 
taken.  The  period  for  the  study  of  this  form  should  come 
between  that  devoted  to  the  writing  of  the  composition  and  the 
period  set  aside  for  the  class  correction.  During  this  period  the 
teacher  should  drill  on  the  form,  should  give  many  examples, 
among  them  the  sentences  copied  from  the  children's  com- 
positions.   Then  the  application  of  the  work  should  be  made. 

It  will  be  found  desirable  to  have  the  compositions  of  the 
children  written  either  in  a  book  to  be  known  as  the  "Book  of 
Compositions,"  or  kept  in  envelopes,  one  envelope  for  each  child. 
When  the  form  has  been  taught,  the  teacher  may  call  upon  the 
class  to  take  out  the  envelope,  or  if  they  are  in  the  teacher's 
possession,  the  envelopes  should  be  distributed.  The  pupils 
then  take  out  all  the  compositions  written  by  them  since  the 
beginning  of  the  term,  and  look  through  them  with  a  view  to 
finding  out  whether  there  are  to  be  found  any  examples  of  the 
error  which  has  just  been  taken  up  in  the  work  of  the  class. 
If  there  are,  the  correction  is  to  be  made  at  once.  Sometimes 
it  will  be  found  advisable  to  have  pupils  correct  compositions 
other  than  their  own.     Sometimes  compositions  may  be  read 


THE  CORRECTION  OF  COMPOSITIONS  233 

aloud.  As  the  work  of  the  term  goes  onward,  the  number  of 
compositions  in  an  envelope  will  become  so  great  that  it  will 
be  impossible  for  the  children  to  go  through  them  all.  The 
pupils  should,  therefore,  be  encouraged  to  select  as  early  as 
possible  what  will  be  known  as  their  masterpieces  or  best  work, 
those  which  it  is  their  aim  to  whip  into  as  nearly  perfect  form 
as  possible.  When  the  period  arrives  for  the  application  of  the 
principle  of  correct  expression  which  has  just  been  learned,  the 
children  concentrate  upon  these  compositions  so  that  when 
the  work  of  the  term  is  over,  these  should  represent  as 
nearly  perfect  pieces  of  work  as  they  can  do. 

In  the  higher  grades  this  correlation  between  correct  expres- 
sion and  correction  of  compositions  should  be  made  through 
the  medium  of  the  study  of  grammar.  One  of  the  fundamental 
purposes  of  English  grammar  is  to  give  to  the  children  a  rational 
basis  for  correct  expression.  It  should,  therefore,  be  the  aim 
of  the  teacher  in  connection  with  the  study  of  each  part  of 
speech,  of  each  new  inflection,  and  the  like,  to  develop  also  some 
law  of  syntax  and  to  apply  this  law  to  the  correction  of  the 
children's  compositions  in  some  such  way  as  that  suggested  in 
connection  with  the  drill  on  common  errors  of  speech. 

Much  of  the  correction  will  of  necessity  be  made  by  the 
teacher;  always,  however,  in  the  presence  of  the  pupil.  It  is 
a  sheer  waste  of  time  for  the  teacher  to  make  a  great  number 
of  corrections  on  a  child's  composition  when  the  child  is  not 
there  to  see  the  corrections  made,  to  be  questioned,  and  to  be 
led  to  see  wherein  he  might  improve  his  work.  In  the  individ- 
ual conference  which  the  teacher  will  hold  with  the  pupil,  there 
are  three  possible  ways  of  correction.  If  the  error  which  the 
teacher  sees  is  one  that  has  already  been  taken  up  during  the 
term  or  in  the  lower  class,  a  mere  line  under  the  incorrect  form 
or  an  31:  in  the  margin  to  show  that  there  is  an  error  on  that 
line,  will  be  sufficient  to  call  the  attention  of  the  child  to  the 
mistake  and  to  lead  him  to  substitute  the  correct  form.    In 


234  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

all  cases  where  the  correction  is  made,  the  child  should  feel 
free  to  draw  a  line  through  his  work  and  to  insert  the  correct 
form.  If  the  error  is  one  that  is  based  on  some  principle  of 
grammar  already  taught,  the  teacher  may  write  in  the  margin 
a  word  or  two  to  suggest  to  the  child  the  principle  of  grammar 
that  has  been  violated;  and  once  more  the  correction  should 
be  made  by  the  child  unaided.  Finally,  if  the  error  is  of  a  sort 
that  is  beyond  the  knowledge  of  technical  grammar  which  the 
child  already  possesses,  or  is  one  of  those  to  be  taken  up  later 
in  the  course,  the  teacher  should  merely  insert  the  correct  form 
in  full  for  the  child. 

The  code  of  correction  should  be  simple.  Frequently  a 
criticism  will  be  simply  a  question  like  ''Why  is  this  apostrophe 
before  the  s?"  or  "Why  did  you  put  this  comma  here?"  or 
"Why  did  you  write  this  word  with  a  capital?"  Where  the 
error  is  indicated  by  a  word  written  in  the  margin,  this  word 
should  not  be  too  general;  thus,  "grammar"  written  in  the 
margin  means  absolutely  nothing  to  the  child.  The  suggestion 
should  be  much  more  specific,  such  as,  "agreement  of  subject 
and  predicate,"  "use  of  adjective,"  "case  of  pronoun,"  "tense 
of  verb,"  etc.  In  spelling,  the  error  may  be  indicated  by  a  line 
drawn  through  the  incorrect  word;  an  omission,  by  the  caret; 
an  error  in  capitalization,  by  a  slanting  line  drawn  through 
the  error;  an  error  in  punctuation,  by  an  x  at  the  exact  point 
of  the  error;  a  capital  P  will  indicate  the  paragraph,  while 
a  curved  line  from  the  last  word  of  one  paragraph  to  the  first 
word  of  the  next,  that  there  should  have  been  no  paragraph 
division. 

Summary. — The  aim  of  the  correction  of  compositions  is  not  so 
much  to  secure  a  perfect  product  as  it  is  to  form  the  habit  of  self- 
criticism  in  the  child.  As  a  basis,  pupils  should  be  made  familiar  with 
correct  idioms  and  should  later  formulate  principles  which  will  guide 
them  in  improving  their  own  work.  No  drill  in  the  correction  of 
errors  is  complete  until  the  child  has  had  an  opportunity  to  use  the 


THE  CORRECTION  OF  COMPOSITIONS  235 

correct  form  in  his  written  or  oral  work.  The  correct  idioms  to  be 
taught  in  the  school  course  should  be  carefully  arranged  by  grades. 
Within  each  grade,  any  particular  idiom  should  be  taken  up  only 
when  its  use  in  incorrect  form  has  shown  itself  to  be  common  in  the 
class.  Wherever  possible,  the  course  should  be  correlated  with  the 
study  of  technical  grammar.  By  reviewing  earlier  compositions  of 
the  class,  sufficient  drill  in  correction  and  repetition  of  the  right 
form  may  be  assured.  Correction  to  be  of  greatest  value  must  be 
personal  and  must  result  not  from  the  dictation  of  the  teacher  but 
from  .the  self -activity  of  the  pupil.  A  simple  code  of  correction  should 
be  devised. 


CHAPTER  XXII 
COMPOSITION 

Composition  —  Suggestions  and  Devices 

The  teacher  will  find  that  her  most  serious  problem  will  be 
to  give  the  children  enough  opportunity  to  write.  Too  fre- 
quently the  work  done  by  the  children  is  restricted  to  one 
or  two  compositions  during  the  week.  It  will  be  found  valuable 
for  the  teacher  to  have  informal  composition  work  every  day 
in  the  year.  If  a  teacher  will  examine  her  ordinary  plan  of 
work,  she  will  find  that  she  is  spending  much  more  time  teach- 
ing about  language  than  she  is  in  giving  the  children  an  oppor- 
tunity to  use  what  she  is  teaching  in  the  course  of  their  regular 
written  work.  We  take  up  rules  and  constructions  and  we  seem 
to  forget  that  the  only  way  that  a  child  will  ever  learn  to  use 
correct  language  is  by  using  it.  We  take  up  the  study  of  quota- 
tion marks,  and  we  think  our  work  is  complete  when  the  chil- 
dren have  done  a  regular  dictation  exercise  involving  the  use 
of  the  quotation  mark,  and  have  produced  fairly  accurate 
results.  We  teach  the  use  of  the  apostrophe,  and  we  give  sets 
of  words  and  ask  the  children  to  wTite  these  words  in  the  singu- 
lar and  plural  possessive.  We  give  drill  on  the  spelling  of 
words  and  we  give  much  less  practise  in  the  use  of  these  words 
in  regular  composition  work.  It  must  be  remembered  that 
practically  every  dictation  lesson  is  deductive,  and  that  a 
correct  application  is  indefinitely  easier  when  the  principle  is 
held  in  the  focus  of  consciousness  than  it  would  be  if  the  center 
of  attention  were  directed  to  the  content  and  the  principle  rele- 
gated to  the  margin. 


COMPOSITION  —  SUGGESTIONS  AND  DEVICES     237 

It  is  here  suggested  that  every  child  have  a  composition 
book  for  informal  work.  This  should  be  in  addition  to  the  regu- 
larly recognized  work  taken  up  in  connection  with  the  study  of 
the  models.  The  ingenuity  of  the  teacher  will  suggest  a  name 
to  be  given  to  this  book.  Titles  such  as  these  may  be  used: 
My  Diary,  Interesting  Occurrences  in  the  Class  Room,  What  I 
am  Thinking  About,  What  I  am  Doing,  What  We  are  Learning, 
Stories  of  School  Life,  My  Daily  Calendar,  Interesting  Lessons, 
A  Handy  Book  of  Information,  etc.  The  children  should  be 
practically  unrestricted  in  their  choice  of  subjects.  They  may 
enter  a  reproduction  of  a  reading  lesson,  a  review  of  some  book 
they  have  read,  a  summary  of  a  story  told  by  the  teacher  or 
read  by  the  children,  reports  on  current  topics,  reports  on  topics 
assigned  to  the  class  for  investigation  and  study  in  connection 
with  geography,  history,  etc.,  with  or  without  the  text  book, 
reports  on  things  seen  on  the  way  to  or  from  school,  descrip- 
tions of  experiments,  descriptions  of  pictures,  narratives  of 
personal  experiences,  answers  to  questions  set  by  the  teacher 
as  research  questions,  a  transcription  of  some  proverb  with  an 
explanation  of  what  the  proverb  means. 

In  the  higher  grades,  the  children  may  be  given  a  set  of 
readers  from  a  lower  grade,  and  they  may  be  asked  to  rewrite 
the  short  stories  in  longer  form,  or  to  condense  the  stories  into 
a  few  well-written  paragraphs.  The  teacher  may  prepare  long 
sentences  and  ask  the  children  to  condense  them  into  ten-word 
telegrams.  Pupils  may  be  asked  to  write  out  a  story  in  the 
form  of  a  series  of  letters,  or  a  series  of  telegrams,  so  that 
the  succession  of  letters  or  telegrams  will  tell  the  story.  The 
teacher  may  give  the  children  a  number  of  words  like  crow,  lead, 
razor,  gold,  ox,  bee,  grass,  thunder,  vinegar,  lamb,  line,  glass, 
sky,  honey,  lightning,  snail,  iron,  snow,  black,  clock,  and  ask 
them  to  make  comparisons.  For  instance,  they  will  write  a 
sentence  which  will  tell  that  something  was  as  black  as  a  crow, 
or  as  white  as  snow,  or  that  some  one  was  as  busy  as  a  bee,  and 


238  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH, 

so  on.  Again,  there  may  be  a  story  told  by  means  of  the  tele- 
phonic conversation  in  which  the  reader  must  infer  what  is 
being  said  at  the  other  end  of  the  telephone  from  what  the  child 
reports  as  the  conversation  heard  at  this  end. 

The  incentives  for  such  composition  work  will  be,  first,  the 
interest  in  giving  expression  to  the  subject  itself;  secondly, 
the  praise  of  the  teacher;  thirdly,  the  placing  of  the  best  com- 
position book  on  the  wall,  hanging  it  by  a  ribbon  or  a  string  from 
a  hook  so  that  it  will  be  easily  seen  by  the  principal  or  by  a 
visitor;  fourthly,  the  publication  of  the  best  work  in  the  school 
paper,  or  reading  the  best  compositions  to  the  assembled 
school.  Occasionally  the  work  of  the  children  should  be  looked 
at  by  the  teacher.  She  may  select  some  child  whose  work  is 
the  best  for  the  week,  and  when  a  visitor  or  the  principal  comes 
into  the  room  and  asks  for  examples  of  the  composition  work, 
the  teacher  may  call  upon  this  boy  to  read  his  best  work.  Every 
boy  will  know  what  is  his  masterpiece,  and  will  take  pride  in 
reading  it  to  visitors. 

Additional  suggestions  of  subjects  for  informal  work  to  be 
done  by  the  children  in  their  composition  books  are  submitted. 

I.    Unfinished  Stories. 

In  the  higher  grades,  when  the  children  have  learned  how 
to  reproduce  stories,  when  they  have  mastered  the  difficulties 
of  an  outline,  and  when  they  know  how  to  develop  a  story  from 
an  outline,  they  should  be  given  the  beginning  of  some  story 
which  the  teacher  will  write  in  a  half-dozen  lines  or  so  on  a  piece 
of  oak-tag,  and  put  in  some  conspicuous  place  in  the  room. 
The  informal  work  for  that  day  will  be  the  finishing  of  the  story. 
This,  and  all  similar  work,  should  be  done  at  odd  moments, 
before  nine,  before  one,  in  the  study  period.  It  must  be  ac- 
knowledged that  there  will  be  a  tendency  to  free  communica- 
tion. There  need  be  no  fear,  however,  that  this  will  result  in 
a  weakening  of  the  discipline.  Communication  is  a  natural 
instinct  in  children,  and  where  it  is  used  for  class  purposes, 


COMPOSITION  — SUGGESTIONS  AND  DEVICES     239 

there  can  be  no  question  that  it  will  serve  to  build  up  a  better 
spirit  in  the  class.  These  stories,  of  course,  should  be  adapted 
to  the  grade.  There  will  be  individuality  in  the  work,  and 
if,  after  every  child  has  had  an  opportunity  to  write  his  own 
version  of  the  story,  the  teacher  were  to  read  the  story  as 
it  really  was  completed  by  the  author,  the  children  will  have 
an  opportunity  of  making  individual  criticism  of  their  own 
powers  of  invention. 

2,.  Imaginary  Adventures. 

Children  may  write  on  —  My  Trip  in  a  Balloon;  What  I 
saw  from  the  Conning  Tower  of  our  Submarine;  A  Hair-breadth 
Escape;  and  so  on.  Many  of  our  school  subjects  for  composi- 
tion are  too  matter  of  fact,  and  the  result  is  that  the  impulse 
to  imaginative  creation  is  satisfied  by  the  children  through  the 
reading  of  dime  novels  and  the  like.  We  may  be  able  to  do 
something  of  value  by  giving  the  children  opportunity  to  write 
on  subjects  that  give  free  rein  to  their  romancing  tendency. 

5.   Descriptions  of  Pictures  in  Poems. 

From  the  poems  studied  by  the  children  as  rngmory  gems, 
they  should  be  encouraged  to  select  pictures  which  they  will 
describe  in  full  detail.  Sometimes  they  may  find  and  put  into 
their  composition  book  a  picture  which  seems  to  fit  the  descrip- 
tion of  the  poem  most  closely.  The  composition  may  be  devoted 
to  showing  the  points  of  resemblance. 

4.  The  Picture  Gallery. 

Here  the  children  should  attempt  to  describe  the  appear- 
ance of  some  favorite  character,  or  of  some  noted  person 
at  some  important  point  in  his  career.  For  instance,  ''How 
did  Washington  look  as  he  took  the  oath  of  ofiice? "  "How  did 
Nathan  Hale  look  just  before  he  was  executed?"  ''Describe 
Paul  Revere  as  he  looked  while  waiting  for  the  signal." 

5.  Imaginary  Autobiographies. 

This  topic  is  touched  on  in  many  books  on  Composition,  and 
need  not  be  explained  in  full  here. 


240  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

6.   Dramatic  Compositions. 

Arrange  with  two  or  more  boys  to  have  them  make  up  a 
little  play,  keeping  its  central  idea  secret  from  the  rest  of  the 
class.  Have  them  act  the  play  in  pantomime  before  the  class, 
and  let  the  exercise  in  the  composition  book  be  the  writing 
out  of  the  story  told  by  the  boys  in  their  acting. 

y.  Moving  Pictures, 

In  these  days  when  the  moving  picture  show  plays  so  large 
a  part  in  the  experiences  of  our  city  children,  it  will  be  found 
interesting  to  have  the  children  write  in  their  composition  book 
the  story  of  some  play  which  they  saw  through  pictures  at  the 
show.  It  may  be  objected  that  this  will  put  a  premiimi  on 
having  the  children  visit  the  show.  In  answer  it  need  scarcely 
be  said  that  there  is  very  little  danger  that  we,  as  teachers, 
will  put  into  the  minds  of  the  children  a  desire  not  already 
present. 

S.   The  Class  Newspaper. 

It  will  be  possible  only  to  touch  upon  this  point.  The  use 
of  the  mimeograph,  and  the  printing  of  enough  copies  to  supply 
every  member  of  the  class,  and  to  give  one  to  each  of  the  other 
classes  of  the  grade,  is  all  that  will  be  necessary.  The  chil- 
dren will  be  able  to  get  ideas  for  a  good  breezy  newspaper. 

p.  Geography. 

Imaginary  trips  to  different  countries  will  be  valuable  and 
will,  moreover,  furnish  an  excellent  opportunity  to  give  a  review 
of  work  in  geography. 

Almost  any  book  on  English  composition  will  give  to  the 
teacher  many  more  examples  of  interesting  subjects  that  may 
be  given  to  the  children.  A  dozen  or  more  may  be  put  on  the 
board  at  the  beginning  of  each  week,  so  that  the  children  will 
feel  free  to  make  a  selection.  Moreover,  it  should  be  impressed 
upon  the  class  that  it  is  not  at  all  necessary  for  them  to  select 
as  the  subject  of  their  composition  work  any  topic  on  the  list 
given  by  teacher.    The  aim  should  be  to  have  the  pupils  feel 


COMPOSITION  — SUGGESTIONS  AND  DEVICES     241 

that  this  work  is  to  be  the  natural  and  unrestrained  expression 
of  their  own  ideas.  Finally,  it  must  be  pointed  out  that  there 
should  be  no  limit  set  on  the  length  or  on  the  number.  In 
every  case,  the  teacher  should  insist  that  the  form  be  good, 
penmanship  careful,  all  work  done  in  ink,  and  so  on.  But  it 
would  be  a  great  mistake  on  the  one  hand  to  insist  that  the 
compositions  reach  a  certain  length,  or  on  the  other  hand,  to 
demand  that  there  be  no  composition  beyond  a  certain  length. 
Children  should  feel  that  a  composition  should  be  just  as  long 
as  is  necessary  to  express  completely  their  ideas,  and  that  it 
should  be  no  longer. 


CHAPTER  XXIII 
GRAMMAR 

General  Considerations 

It  is  significant  to  note  that  there  is  a  pronounced  tendency 
in  many  quarters  to  question  whether  the  study  of  grammar 
should  have  any  place  at  all  in  the  elementary  curriculum. 
This  doubt  is  by  no  means  a  new  thing  in  education;  but  at 
no  earlier  period  in  the  course  of  development  has  it  been  so 
permanent  or  been  advocated  by  so  many  leading  thinkers. 
It  will  cast  much  light  on  the  point  of  view  we  are  to  adopt  in 
our  treatment  of  this  subject  if  we  enter  somewhat  into  detail 
in  discussing  this  question  with  a  view  to  ascertaining  why  the 
study  has  fallen  into  disrepute,  and  wherein  reforms  are  neces- 
sary, if  indeed  we  are  to  hold  that  grammar  should  remain  a 
part  of  the  course  of  study. 

In  all  systems  of  education  in  which  the  aim  is  something 
apart  from  participation  in  real  life,  the  content  as  well  as  the 
expressive  side  of  the  educative  process  is  found  in  books;  and 
hence,  language  and  the  formal  aspects  of  language  become 
important  subjects  of  study.  In  China,  for  example,  the  right 
understanding  of  the  classics  and  the  faithful  reproduction  of 
their  style  are  the  aims  which  the  so-called  culture  strove  to 
realize.  To  whatever  extent  it  may  be  said  that  the  Chinese 
language  has  a  grammar,  the  study  of  this  grammar  was  the 
most  vital  part  of  the  education  of  the  time.  It  is  true  that 
owing  to  the  peculiar  nature  of  the  tongue,  grammar  resolves 
itself  rather  into  a  study  of  location  and  combination,  but 
still  the  content  of  the  educative  process  is  found  in  books,  the 


GRAMMAR  243 

expression  of  the  activity  of  the  learner  is  in  the  form  of  written 
exercises,  the  main  task  he  has  to  perform  is  to  overcome  the 
difficulties  of  diction,  arrangement,  and  style.  It  is  altogether 
probable  that  the  cultured  Chinese  speak  with  a  greater  degree 
of  purity  than  do  those  who  have  had  none  of  this  training. 
But  it  must  be  realized  that  this  increased  correctness  comes 
rather  as  a  concomitant  effect  of  the  study  of  the  language. 
At  no  time  was  the  attainment  of  this  power  of  cultured  speech 
used  as  an  impeUing  motive  in  the  process  of  learning.  At 
no  time  was  the  application  to  spoken  language  made  the  test 
of  the  real  comprehension  of  the  study  of  the  classics.  As  a 
matter  of  fact  the  real  test  of  results  was  given  in  a  field  alto- 
gether separated  from  real  life.  At  no  time  was  written  lan- 
guage considered  a  mark  of  power;  the  ability  to  speak  well  was 
never  tested.  In  such  a  scheme  of  education  the  study  of  the 
formal  aspects  of  language  inevitably  plays  an  important  part. 

We  have  treated  in  this  detail  the  characteristics  of  the  typi- 
cal aspects  of  the  relation  of  formal  study  to  the  general  educa- 
tive process  in  the  case  of  Chinese  education,  because  to  a  large 
degree  this  relation  will  be  found  to  be  the  characteristic  in 
any  system  of  education  which  finds  its  inspiration  in  books. 
In  that  period  of  Roman  education  which  is  represented  by 
Quintilian,  the  aim  was  to  produce  orators  who  could  speak 
with  perfect  accuracy;  and  although  to  a  certain  extent  Quin- 
tihan  is  different  from  some  other  writers  of  this  period  in  that 
he  lays  much  stress  upon  the  content  of  the  speeches,  even  he 
shows  in  every  step  in  his  system  that  his  aim  was  to  secure 
formal  and  technical  accuracy. 

It  may  be  well  to  analyze  in  a  brief  way  his  method  of  teach- 
ing reading,  composition,  and  grammar.  He  adopts  the  syn- 
thetic method;  that  is  to  say,  he  has  the  child  begin  at  the 
age  of  three  with  the  study  of  letters.  At  once,  this  puts  the 
stamp  of  formalism  upon  his  entire  method.  If  the  progress 
which  has  been  made  in  education  since  the  time  of  Froebel 


244  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

stands  for  anything,  it  means  that  the  educative  process  finds 
its  rational  beginning  in  the  ideas  and  instinctive  activities  of 
children.  Applied  to  language,  this  implies  that  the  start- 
ing point  should  be  the  expression  in  language,  at  first  spoken, 
later  written,  of  thoughts  revealing  the  developing  person- 
aUty  of  the  child.  The  method  which  we  have  suggested  for 
the  teaching  of  reading  and  the  advantages  of  an  approach 
through  stories  over  an  approach  synthetically  through  the 
study  of  letters,  vowels,  and  words,  illustrates  what  is  meant 
by  the  effect  which  the  new  point  of  view  should  have  upon  our 
methods.  We  need  not  refer  at  length  to  those  instances  in 
the  method  of  Quintilian  which  show  us  that  here  and  there 
he  had  essentially  correct  ideas  of  child-nature.  While  to-day 
we  realize  that  instinctive  activities  are  the  keynote  of  all 
method,  Quintilian  used  them  only  in  the  employment  of 
devices.  For  example,  he  used  the  play  instinct  for  the  pur- 
pose of  fixing  the  shapes  of  letters.  He  had  ivory  blocks  and 
letters  cut  in  wooden  blocks,  the  grooves  followed  by  a  stylus 
held  in  the  hands  of  the  children.  From  letters  he  proceeded 
to  the  study  of  syllables,  drilling  on  these  so  that  the  children 
might  pronounce  what  had  gone  before  while  the  eye  took  in 
what  followed.  When  he  came  to  the  study  of  words,  he  again 
unconsciously  emphasized  the  formal  attitude  that  he  had 
adopted  in  the  study  of  the  language.  He  insisted  that  the 
children  should  be  called  upon  to  write  uncommon  words,  on 
the  plea  that  if  they  wrote  those  words  which  frequently  occur, 
they  would  be  wasting  time.  In  the  later  stages,  when  poetry 
was  studied,  it  is  true  that  some  attempt  was  made  at  under- 
standing the  content;  but  the  real  aim  was  to  analyze  the 
construction  of  the  poem  in  addition  to  memorizing  it,  to  pro- 
ceed to  a  study  of  the  parts  of  speech,  the  prosody,  and  the 
choice  of  words. 

It  is  quite  probable  that  a  method  of  this  sort  will  produce 
formal  accuracy  in  the  use  of  language.    That  is  to  say,  this 


GRAMMAR  245 

is  a  method  apparently  adequate  to  meet  its  purposes.  But 
in  education  the  product  is  never  the  most  important  element. 
It  has  well  been  said  that  with  unlimited  patience,  with  the 
proper  amount  of  external  control,  the  normal  child  can  be 
taught  to  do  anything.  There  are,  however,  two  other  factors 
which  enter  into  the  problem,  and  which  are  of  tremendous  im- 
portance. In  the  first  place,  how  much  waste  of  energy  is 
there  in  the  process  of  compelling  children  to  do  things  which 
are  not  naturally  expressive  of  their  developing  personality; 
and  secondly,  to  what  extent  does  a  method  like  that  outHned 
give  the  children  power  to  attack  situations  different  from 
those  through  which  they  gained  their  knowledge?  Power 
to  meet  the  new  and  economy  in  the  attainment  of  what  we 
possess  are  set  at  naught  by  any  method  of  language  teaching 
which  is  based  upon  a  logic  of  the  subject. 

In  the  Middle  Ages,  with  varying  forms,  we  find  educational 
systems  that  have  their  source  entirely,  or  almost  entirely, 
in  books.  This  is  true  throughout  the  period  of  the  Church 
Fathers,  throughout  that  of  the  Schoolmen,  and  in  that  phase 
of  realism  which  has  been  called  "humanistic  realism."  It  is 
true  that  in  the  broader  humanism,  the  study  of  the  forms  of 
language  was  subordinated  to  the  comprehension  of  the  con- 
tent, but  the  inevitable  change  soon  took  place.  Whenever 
any  system  of  education  derives  its  inspiration  from  books, 
sooner  or  later,  the  entire  method  of  that  education  will  become 
formal,  its  method  based  upon  the  analysis  of  the  style  of  the 
language  found  in  the  books,  and  its  aim  the  reproduction  of 
that  style  with  a  minimum  expenditure  of  energy.  Formal 
teaching  is  always  easier  for  the  teacher  than  that  which  waits 
upon  the  development  of  the  child-mind;  and  accordingly, 
in  the  history  of  education  we  find  that  the  broader  humanism 
soon  gave  way  to  the  narrower  phases. 

In  the  northern  part  of  Europe  this  ideal  was  crystallized 
by  Sturm,  and  the  method  which  he  applied  to  the  teaching 


246  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

of  Latin  has  had  its  influence  on  the  teaching  of  language  even 
to  the  present  time.  In  fact,  we  may  go  even  further.  All 
mistakes  made  in  the  treatment  of  EngUsh  grammar  in  our 
schools  to-day  are  due  to  the  persistence  of  the  Sturm  ideal. 
If  there  is  any  objection  at  all  to  the  presence  of  grammar 
in  the  course  of  study  it  is  because  the  subject  is  looked  upon 
from  the  formal  aspect;  it  is  because  an  attempt  is  made  to 
reach  a  certain  formal  accuracy  purely  in  a  synthetic  way; 
it  is  because  a  knowledge  of  rules,  of  modes  of  analysis,  and  of 
parsing,  is  considered  a  desirable  thing  apart  from  the  applica- 
tion of  these  rules. 

It  is  true  that  an  attempt  is  made  to  apply  to  the  speech 
of  the  children  all  that  has  been  learned  in  grammar.  But  it 
is  one  thing  to  secure  good  results  when  the  mind  is  focalized 
upon  a  process,  and  it  is  quite  another  to  attain  similar  results 
when  the  center  of  attention  is  upon  the  content.  The  accuracy 
which  was  easy  of  attainment  when  there  was  a  concentration 
of  consciousness  upon  this  process  becomes  a  very  difficult 
thing  to  achieve  when  the  process  is  marginated.  Every 
teacher  has  met  a  situation  of  this  sort.  A  class  is  able  to  imder- 
stand  a  rule  of  syntax,  is  able  to  apply  this  rule  with  absolute 
accuracy  in  the  period  devoted  to  the  correction  of  sentences. 
Yet,  in  the  written  compositions  and  in  the  oral  work  of  the 
children,  held  perhaps  on  the  same  day  that  the  drill  in  syntax 
has  taken  place,  they  will,  with  utter  disregard  of  what  has 
just  been  learned,  commit  the  very  errors  which  would  at 
once  appeal  to  them  as  things  to  be  avoided  were  their  atten- 
tion directed  exclusively  to  these  forms  as  such. 

What  then  is  to  be  our  attitude  toward  the  teaching  of 
grammar?  Are  we  to  say,  that  because  there  is  so  little  carry- 
ing over  of  power  from  the  formal  study  to  power  in  correct 
expression,  the  formal  study  is  altogether  a  waste  process  in 
the  elementary  school?  Hardly.  It  is  true  that  all  the  formal 
study  in  the  world  will  never  make  a  man  speak  the  language 


GRAMMAR  247 

of  a  cultured  person.  On  the  other  hand,  mere  acquaintance 
with  correct  forms  through  models  presented  by  the  teacher 
in  her  own  speech,  and  through  the  reading  of  the  best  litera- 
ture, while  it  makes  for  a  higher  degree  of  perfection  than 
could  be  attained  were  these  models  not  presented,  will  never 
produce  a  perfect  use  of  language.  We  have  referred  a  number 
of  times  to  the  fallacy  implied  in  the  theory  of  incidental  teach- 
ing. If  a  child  is  really  to  know  a  thing,  whether  this  be  a 
matter  of  form  or  a  matter  of  content,  he  must  concentrate 
upon  that  thing.  We  may  call  it  focalization,  as  the  psy- 
chologists do,  or  absorption  and  reflection  as  the  pedagogues 
do,  but  we  must  recognize  from  the  outset  that  only  that  is 
learned  upon  which  consciousness  is  centered.  Even  a  habit 
which  is  based  upon  activities  different  in  the  slightest  degree 
from  the  natural  tendency  of  the  child,  can  never  be  economi- 
cally formed  imconsciously.  It  is  one  thing  to  speak  with  a 
reasonable  degree  of  correctness  because  one  has  been  accus- 
tomed to  hear  only  correct  forms  in  the  course  of  one's 
development.  It  is  another  to  be  able  to  rationalize  the  use 
of  these  correct  forms  and  in  that  way  to  extend  one's  mastery 
over  expressions  which  have  not  come  within  the  limit  of  one's 
immediate  experience.  It  is  the  second  kind  of  training  that 
the  study  of  grammar  should  aim  to  give. 

But  the  mere  study  of  form,  that  is  of  rules,  and  of  modes 
of  analysis  and  parsing,  does  not  necessarily  imply  a  carrying 
over  into  application.  Whether  this  study  will  or  will  not 
find  an  inevitable  and  natural  usefulness  in  the  ordinary  lan- 
guage of  the  children  depends  upon  the  method  of  approach. 
Children  will  speak  grammatically,  that  is,  they  will  speak  with 
due  regard  to  the  rules  which  are  based  upon  the  best  usage, 
only  if  immediately  below  the  level  of  consciousness  there  is 
within  easy  recall  a  knowledge  of  rules  derived  from  the  lan- 
guage they  are  employing.  That  is  to  say,  there  must  be  an 
immediate  and  close  association  between  every  rule  of  grammar 


248  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

and  the  language  that  is  used.  In  our  ordinary  teaching,  we 
attempt  to  get  this  kind  of  association  by  having  the  children 
study  some  rule.  Then  by  giving  them  a  series  of  twenty, 
thirty,  or  forty  incorrect  sentences  connected  with  their  lessons 
or  their  average  thinking,  we  call  upon  them  to  apply  the  rule 
in  the  correction  of  the  sentences.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  real 
center  of  this  work  is  the  rule,  and  the  application  is  nothing 
but  an  excrescence,  something  foisted  upon  the  rule  because 
of  some  ulterior  motive  in  the  mind  of  the  teacher,  and  not 
because  of  some  inherent  native  demand  of  the  rule  itself,  or 
some  normal  functioning  of  the  expressive  personality  of  the 
child. 

That  the  step  of  application  is  necessary,  no  one  would  dare 
to  dispute;  but  whether  the  application  should  be  of  this  par- 
ticular sort  is  a  matter  open  to  serious  question.  And  even 
were  the  application  of  a  different  kind,  even  if  we  were  to 
make  it  more  vital  to  the  children,  we  still  should  have  met  but 
one-half  of  our  problem.  We  may  rightly  ask  why  were  these 
rules  selected  for  study?  What  determined  the  order  of  their 
development?  Why  was  just  this  rule  selected  and  no  other? 
We  should  be  forced  to  confess  that  our  selection  was  based  upon 
a  more  or  less  rightly  conceived  notion  of  the  order  of  difficulty; 
that  is  to  say,  solely  upon  a  logic  of  the  subject.  Every  sub- 
ject in  the  course  of  study  carries  with  it  an  inevitable  logic 
which  will,  to  a  greater  or  less  extent,  determine  the  method  of 
its  presentation.  In  fact,  we  may  go  so  far  as  to  say  that  the 
systematized  mass  of  knowledge  in  any  branch  as  we  possess 
it  to-day  has  come  as  a  result  of  the  work  of  the  race-mind, 
and  that,  therefore,  the  logic  of  a  subject  to  some  extent  is 
representative  of  the  psychological  development  of  the  race 
in  its  mastery  of  that  subject.  But  whatever  of  general  truth 
there  may  be  in  this  statement  it  would  not  be  well  to  apply 
it  in  too  much  detail  in  our  attack  upon  any  subject  in  the  ele- 
mentary school  curriculum.    We  must  never  lose  sight  of  the 


GRAMMAR  249 

fact  that  the  real  center  of  the  educative  process  is  the  child 
with  his  developing  ideas,  his  instinctive  tendencies,  and  his 
functioning  personality.  This  must  be  always  the  main  door 
through  which  we  enter  upon  any  step  in  teaching. 

What  we  have  said  thus  far  by  way  of  introduction  leads 
us  then  inevitably  to  this  general  statement  of  the  method  of 
procedure  to  be  followed  in  the  teaching  of  grammar.  We 
should  start  from  the  actual  language  used  by  the  children  as 
one  form  of  expression  for  the  ideas  which  are  ever  forming 
in  their  minds.  To  a  certain  extent,  because  of  the  models 
set  for  them  by  the  teachers  and  met  in  the  course  of  their 
reading,  this  language  will  be  correct.  That  is  to  say,  it  will 
be  in  accordance  with  the  conventional  usage  of  modern  society. 
In  many  other  particulars,  however,  there  will  be  errors. 

Sometimes  these  errors  will  be  due  to  psychological  causes. 
Let  us  take  the  use  of  the  pronoun  /  instead  of  me  in  such 
phrases  as  "between  you  and  I"  or  "John  gave  it  to  him  and 
I."  Wherever  the  expressing  personality  is  the  center  of 
thought,  it  has  largely  been  the  center  of  what  James  calls 
a  "substantive  state,"  that  is,  a  state  where  the  ego  is  focused 
upon.  In  the  great  majority  of  cases  it  is  so  because  the  ego 
has  been  trying  to  express  itself.  That  is  to  say,  the  pronoun 
used  has,  in  these  cases,  been  /.  The  earliest  phases  of  child 
activity  are  characterized  by  an  expression  of  the  self.  The 
child  tells  what  it  has  done  rather  than  what  has  been  done 
to  it,  and,  therefore,  there  is  a  much  more  frequent  use  of  the 
nominative  case  (of  the  pronoun  /)  than  of  any  other  form. 
Consequently,  by  the  law  of  habit  superinduced  by  constant 
repetition,  the  pronoun  /  will  be  used  wherever  there  is  an 
attempt  to  express  the  personality  of  the  speaker.  This  error 
may,  therefore,  be  ascribed  to  a  psychological  cause. 

Again,  let  us  take  the  case  in  which  the  children,  in  using 
a  sentence  that  has  two  singular  subjects  connected  by  and, 
use  the  singular  form  of  the  verb.    The  power  to  group  two 


250  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

statements  is  late  in  developing.  When  the  child  says,  for 
example,  "The  bean  and  the  pea  is  growing  in  our  window- 
box,"  the  child  concentrates  first  upon  the  idea  hean,  and  then 
upon  the  idea  pea^  and  in  the  scarcely  measurable  interval  of 
time  between  the  utterance  of  the  word  pea  and  the  statement 
of  the  predicate,  that  is,  "is  growing  in  our  window-box," 
the  idea  of  hean  has  faded  somewhat  and  the  child  holds  in 
mind  only  the  second  idea.  Consequently,  as  far  as  conscious- 
ness is  concerned,  the  child  is  engaged  merely  in  expressing  the 
idea^  "the  pea  is  growing  in  our  window-box."  It  is  only 
much  later  in  development  that  the  child  is  able  to  S3mthesize 
and  to  group  these  in  the  interval  between  the  statement  of 
the  subject  and  the  statement  of  the  predicate.  It  is  only 
in  a  later  period  that  the  child  is  able  to  see  both  the  ideas 
grouped  together,  to  realize  that  two  objects  are  spoken  of, 
and  that,  therefore,  the  plural  verb  is  called  for. 

It  may  be  said  that  if  this  is  a  characteristic  of  child-mind, 
it  would  be  useless  to  attempt  to  teach  the  plural  form  of  the 
verb  with  the  connected  subject  until  the  child  has  developed 
sufficiently  to  be  able  to  group  the  ideas  of  individuals  under 
the  idea  of  two.  But  it  is  just  at  this  point  that  the  study 
of  grammar  will  be  a  help,  for  by  directing  attention  to  this 
particular  form,  we  may  hasten  and  facilitate  the  process  of 
groupmg. 

To  cite  another  case  which  contributes  to  the  common  errors 
found  in  the  speech  of  children,  let  us  take  the  sentence,  "He 
don't  know  what  he  is  doing."  Here  we  may  say  that  the 
error  is  due  to  a  social  cause.  We  must  not  forget  that,  after 
all,  the  time  spent  by  the  child  alone  is  small  compared  with 
that  portion  of  his  life  which  he  spends  with  his  comrades  and  in 
the  larger  life  around  him.  If  the  speech  of  those  at  home  and 
of  his  playmates  on  the  street  is  incorrect,  he  will  hear  many 
expressions  which,  by  the  canons  of  good  usage,  are  incorrect. 
Simply  by  reason  of  their  number  and  of  the  frequency  of 


GRAMMAR  251 

repetition,  they  will  furnish  him  with  a  model  that  he  will 
more  or  less  consciously  imitate.  It  is  the  function  of  grammar 
to  correct  the  errors  committed  by  the  children  because  of  the 
language  they  hear  at  home  and  on  the  street,  and  to  apply  to 
these  solecisms  rules  derived  from  the  best  usage. 

Summarizing  then,  it  will  be  seen  that  no  matter  how  much 
we  may  attempt  to  give  the  children  none  but  perfect  models 
in  the  school,  for  psychological  and  for  social  reasons  there 
may  grow  up  certain  forms  which  are  at  variance  with  what 
is  usually  considered  correct  usage.  Starting  from  these,  and 
using  them  as  the  basis  for  instruction,  all  work  should  proceed. 

From  the  inspection  of  many  such  examples,  children  may  be 
led  to  see  what  is  the  incorrect  form.  The  teacher  then  sup- 
plies the  correct  one,  and  leaves  the  children  to  formulate  a 
reason  for  the  correction.  From  this  will  develop  the  rules  of 
syntax.  The  immediate  application  of  these  rules  should  be 
to  other  expressions  used  by  the  children  either  in  speech  or 
in  writing.  In  this  way,  we  have  brought  about  what  we  be- 
lieve to  be  a  method  characteristic  of  the  best  teaching  of  the 
formal  aspects  of  language.  The  rule  is  never  taught  as  a 
thing  in  itself;  it  is  never  given  except  on  the  basis  of  the 
language  used  by  the  children.  On  the  other  hand,  the  rule 
is  never  left  as  a  thing  by  itself;  it  is  always  applied  to  the 
language  of  the  children. 

Summary. — As  ordinarily  understood,  the  aim  of  the  teaching 
of  technical  grammar  is  to  assure  formal  accuracy  in  speech  and  in 
writing.  This  aim  may  be  secured  by  isolating  form  from  content 
and  concentrating  upon  technique  and  the  principles  underlying  cor- 
rect technique.  Such  a  procedure  is  wasteful  because  (i)  it  does 
not  employ  an  urgent  motive  which  will  make  the  learning  process 
easier;  (2)  it  does  not  insure  the  carrying  over  of  proficiency  from 
the  theory  to  the  practice.  The  study  of  grammar,  like  the  study  of 
technique  and  of  habits  of  action  which  are  to  operate  in  the  mar- 
gin of  consciousness,  must  at  some  point  in  the  learning  process  be 


252  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

focalized  upon.  The  order  of  development  is  to  some  extent  to  be 
determined  by  the  logic  of  the  subject.  The  starting  point  should 
be  the  actual  language  used  by  the  children  in  the  expression  of 
their  ideas.  The  development  of  the  principles  should  be  inductive. 
The  appUcation  should  be  to  the  speech  and  the  written  work  of 
the  child. 


CHAPTER  XXIV 
GRAMMAR   (Continued) 
Correction  of  Errors 

From  the  moment  that  the  teacher  begins  to  place  empha- 
sis upon  the  form  of  expression  of  the  children  as  regards 
correctness  of  idiom,  completeness  of  statement,  and  the 
Hke,  at  that  very  moment  the  teaching  in  formal  grammar 
begins.  As  has  already  been  suggested,  the  aim  is  first  to  have 
the  child,  by  imitation,  by  conscious  effort,  and  by  direct  form, 
acquire  habits  of  correct  utterance,  and  later  to  analyze  his 
own  speech  so  as  to  form  general  principles  which  will  be  of 
value  to  him  in  giving  a  rational  basis  for  what  was  first  blind 
imitation.  In  the  lowest  grade  of  the  elementary  school,  the 
teacher  may  well  insist  that  the  answers  given  by  the  children 
to  the  questions  shall  be  in  the  form  of  complete  sentences. 

It  will  be  found  helpful  if  the  work  in  the  conversation  lessons 
be  carried  on  in  such  a  way  that  the  children  ask  questions 
which  are  to  be  answered  by  other  children  rather  than  that 
they  remain  continually  in  the  attitude  of  giving  information. 
The  asking  of  a  question  implies  the  previous  formulation  of  the 
expected  answer  in  the  mind  of  the  one  who  asks  the  ques- 
tion, and  calls  for  a  focalization  upon  such  a  form  of  question 
as  will  bring  out  the  answer  expected.  The  question,  there- 
fore, is  a  much  more  valuable  and  vital  means  of  language 
training  than  the  answer  Paradoxical  as  it  is,  the  early  teach- 
ing values  error  much  more  highly  than  it  does  correctness. 
It  is  the  aim  of  the  teacher  to  form  right  habits,  and  this  can 
be  done  only  if  the  teacher  knows  what  are  the  common  errors 
made  by  the  children.    Any  devices  which  will   call  forth 


254  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

natural  and  spontaneous  utterance  from  the  children,  which 
will  lead  them  to  forget  the  artificiality  that  usually  character- 
izes all  their  school  speech,  which  will  make  them  depend  upon 
themselves,  will  reproduce  within  the  class  room  conditions 
like  those  which  exist  on  the  street,  and  may  lead  children  to 
speak  with  the  freedom  that  they  exercise  when  they  are  not 
under  immediate  supervision. 

The  teacher  should  always  bear  in  mind  that  the  formation 
of  a  habit  is  a  purely  individual  matter.  It  is  not  a  question 
of  class  instruction  except  where  the  habit  refers  to  a  detail  of 
school  routine.  It  would  be  well  if  the  teacher  kept  on  cards 
lists  of  the  particularly  persistent  errors  made  by  individual 
children:  errors  which  the  utmost  expenditure  of  effort  on  his 
part  does  not  seem  to  correct.  When  a  child  leaves  one  class 
to  go  to  the  next  higher  one,  this  card  may  be  sent  to  the 
next  teacher,  who  will  add  new  errors  committed  by  the  child, 
and  who  will  on  the  other  hand  cross  out  those  which  tend 
to  disappear. 

It  may  be  suggested  at  this  point  that  some  of  the  errors 
made  by  children,  like  some  of  the  instincts  which  they  show 
in  the  process  of  their  development,  have  a  tendency  to  die  of 
their  own  accord.  For  example,  in  the  lowest  grades  the 
teacher  is  driven  almost  distracted  by  the  flabby  '^and"  and 
*'and  so'^  sentence  structure  of  the  children.  As  a  matter  of 
fact  there  is  scarcely  any  need  of  correcting  this  habit.  It 
is  true  that  the  teacher  should  at  times  make  a  perfunctory 
attempt  to  correct  the  children,  but  this  will  be  done  merely 
to  stamp  her  own  disapproval  upon  the  expression.  It  is 
not  to  be  done  so  continually  as  to  lead  to  an  undue  em- 
phasis upon  the  error.  As  the  child  grows  older,  he  will, 
through  the  force  of  models  that  he  meets  in  his  school  life  and 
in  his  reading,  drop  this  particular  habit.  It  is  true  that  this 
form  of  construction  sometimes  persists  in  the  adult,  but  it  is 
probably  due  to  temperamental   causes. 


GRAMMAR  —  CORRECTION  OF  ERRORS  255 

Beginning  with  the  second  half  of  the  first  year,  the  formal 
work  on  the  correct  forms  of  some  of  the  incorrect  expressions 
common  to  the  class  may  be  made  the  basis  of  drills.  Care 
should  be  taken  to  have  these  forms  grow  out  of  the  actual 
speech  of  the  children.  The  conversation  lesson  as  such 
should  never  be  interrupted  for  the  purpose  of  any  extended 
correction  on  the  part  of  the  teacher.  No  lesson  should  be  too 
long,  nor  should  any  attempt  be  made  at  exhaustive  treatment. 
Wherever  the  child  speaks  for  the  purpose  of  giving  expression 
to  individual  experiences,  the  language  should  be  corrected  in 
such  a  way  as  not  to  interrupt  the  steady  flow  of  the  thought. 

In  places  where  certain  children  have  made  use  of  a  sentence 
which  is  particularly  good  from  the  standpoint  of  clearness  or 
brevity,  the  teacher  may  interrupt  with  an  approving  word, 
and  may  repeat  the  sentence  given  by  the  child  so  as  to  em- 
phasize it.  It  may  even  be  well  to  write  such  a  sentence  on 
the  blackboard.  When  the  teacher  notices  a  particular  error 
occurring  with  a  reasonable  degree  of  frequency  in  the  state- 
ments of  the  children,  that  error  may  be  made  the  basis  for  a 
regular  drill  on  the  correct  form. 

It  should  carefully  be  noted  that  this  work  begins  only  with 
the  second  half  of  the  first  year.  Due  regard  for  the  signifi- 
cance of  this  later  introduction  will  give  the  teacher  a  notion 
of  the  attitude  she  should  adopt  in  this  work.  In  the  lowest 
grade,  the  teacher  should  note  the  errors  made  by  the  children, 
but  she  should  not  forget  that  the  fundamental  aim  is  to 
secure  spontaneity  and  free  expression.  If  she  attempts  to 
make  unduly  emphatic  reference  to  the  errors  made  by  a 
child,  she  will  embarrass  the  child,  and  may  cause  a  certain 
hesitation  to  develop  in  speech. 

In  the  lower  grade  there  should  be  simply  "the  gentle  patient 
substitution  of  the  right  expression  for  the  wrong  one,  with- 
out insisting  upon  the  child's  knowing  that  a  correction  was 
necessary.    It  is  by  constant  imitation  only  that  the  child 


256  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

will  acquire  the  habit  of  correct  expression."  When  once, 
however,  the  drill  on  correct  form  has  begun,  it  should  be 
constant.  It  is  a  great  mistake  to  reserve  it  only  for  the 
regular  lesson.  On  the  one  hand,  the  teacher  should  remember 
that  misplaced  emphasis  on  form,  when  the  aim  is  the  develop- 
ment of  content,  will  result  in  a  less  satisfactory  rendition  of 
the  content.  On  the  other  hand,  to  allow  errors  to  be  made 
by  children  in  the  course  of  their  speech  without  making  any 
attempt  to  correct  those  errors,  or  to  lead  the  pupils  to  see  that 
the  expressions  they  have  used  are  incorrect,  will  separate  the 
drill  on  correct  form  from  its  natural  and  inevitable  applica- 
tion to  the  language  of  the  children. 

No  reason  need  be  given  for  the  correction.  Mere  blind 
imitation  on  the  part  of  the  children  will  result  in  fixing  the 
correct  form  if  there  has  been  proper  focalization  upon  that 
form,  and  if  the  teacher  has  given  sufiicient  opportunity  for 
repetition.  At  no  time  in  the  course,  even  through  the  eighth 
year,  should  this  kind  of  work  be  completely  discontinued. 
In  the  higher  grades,  when  certain  of  the  rules  which  have  been 
evolved  from  the  philosophy  of  our  language  have  been  taught 
to  the  children,  the  basis  of  the  correction  may  be,  not  the 
mere  blind  imitation  of  a  model  set  by  the  teacher,  but  rather 
the  application  of  a  rule  already  developed  by  the  children 
themselves.  The  following  quotation  from  an  article  on 
"Language  Work  for  the  First  Five  Years,"  by  Margaret 
Knox,  will  show  how  the  work  is  to  be  carried  on  in  this  informal 
way.  The  play  or  game  element  may  be  safely  dropped  after 
the  third  year. 

"With  the  very  little  folks  select  a  story  in  which  there  is 
frequent  repetition  of  the  same  expression,  as  for  example, 
the  story  of  'The  Old  Woman  and  Her  Pig.'  The  child  begins 
to  tell  the  story  thus:  'The  rat  heginned  (or  begun)  to  gnaw 
the  rope.'  The  teacher  gives  the  proper  expression,  saying, 
'The  rat  began  to  gnaw  the  rope.'      The  child  accepts  it,  and 


GRAMMAR— CORRECTION  OF  ERRORS  257 

goes  on  with  the  story,  using  the  correct  expression  ten  or  a 
dozen  times  in  the  next  minute.  What  better  exercise  could 
there  be  for  the  fixing  of  that  correct  form?  'Cock  Robin' 
is  a  story  that  gives  opportunity  for  the  repetition  of  'said' 
instead  of  the  iUiterate  'says,'  for  the  use  of  'I  saw,'  instead 
of  'I  seen,'  and  also  for  correct  use  of  the  pronoun  'I'  instead 
of  'me.'" 

Or  a  game  may  be  devised  which  provides  opportunity  for 
reiteration  of  the  form  which  we  desire  to  impress;  as,  for 
example,  the  game  which  for  the  want  of  a  better  name  let 
us  call  the  "I  saw"  box.  The  teacher  wishes  to  correct  the 
*'I  seen"  habit.  She  has  on  her  desk  a  box  filled  with  all  sorts 
of  objects.  These  she  holds  up  before  the  class  in  rapid  succes- 
sion, then  hides  them,  calling  upon  the  little  folks  to  tell  what 
they  saw. 

Teacher:  "What  did  you  see?" 

Child:  "I  seen  a  top,"  or  "I  sawn  a  top,"  or  "I  sawr  a  top." 

Teacher:  "I  saw  a  top.  What  did  you  see?"  calling  on  the 
next  child.  Noting  the  correction  that  his  teacher  has  made, 
he  answers,  "I  saw  a  ball";  in  this  way,  there  is  repetition  of 
"I  saw"  until  the  article  held  up  is  not  recognized.  In  the 
excitement  of  answering,  some  child  is  again  trapped  into 
making  the  "I  seen"  mistake;  here  is  another  chance  for 
the  teacher  to  use  the  correct  expression.  In  such  a  game  the 
opportunity  for  using  "I  saw"  has  occurred  perhaps  twenty 
times  or  more.  By  devices  of  this  sort,  which  hold  the  atten- 
tion of  the  child  through  pleasant  interest,  the  correct  form 
is  unconsciously  fixed  in  the  child's  mind,  and  will  find  expres- 
sion in  his  speech. 

The  teacher  should  listen  to  the  language  of  the  class  at 
all  times  and  should  note  the  mistakes.  She  should  select 
the  most  glaring  of  these,  and  make  them  the  subject  of  drills. 
Her  ingenuity  will  be  taxed  to  devise  new  and  interesting 
ways  of  conducting  these,  but  they  should  not  be  allowed  to 


258  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

lapse  on  that  account.  The  work  should  be  systematic  and 
continuous. 

Then,  again,  she  may  have  simple  repetition  of  the  correct 
form  without  any  so-called  drill.  By  simply  correcting  over 
and  over  again  the  mistake  as  it  occurs,  always  kindly,  always 
patiently,  not  with  the  irritated  '^  Don't  say  this  or  that," 
but  — 

"Can  I  do  this?" 

"Yes,  if  you  say  'May  I.'" 

"I  ain't  got  no  pencil." 

"You  shall  have  one  if  you  say  'I  have  no  pencil.'" 

"This  example  is  awful  hard." 

"It  is  very  —  what  did  you  say?" 

There  are,  after  all,  not  so  many  errors  of  speech  to  which 
we  can  give  our  attention  in  these  early  years.  These  few, 
however,  we  must  attack  unweariedly,  and  let  the  rest  go 
until  technical  grammar  steps  in  to  shoulder  the  responsibility. 
If  this  work  is  not  left  to  chance,  but  is  taken  up  systematically 
and  continuously,  giving  it  a  recognized  place  in  the  day's 
program,  there  will  be  marked  improvement  in  the  child's 
language. 

In  the  third  year,  the  drill  on  correct  forms  of  expression 
may  profitably  follow  a  regular  course.  In  the  New  York  Course 
of  Study,  for  example,  this  year  is  given  to  the  study  of  the  use 
of  "is"  and  "are,"  "was"  and  "were,"  "has"  and  "have," 
the  use  of  the  parts  of  "do,  see,  come,  and  go";  while  such 
exercises  are  given  in  sentence  construction  as  will  afford  prac- 
tice in  forming  the  plurals  of  nouns,  including  a  few  common 
irregular  forms.  The  method  of  teaching  really  resolves  itself 
into  the  employment  of  devices  which  will  keep  up  interest  and 
will  afford  practically  unlimited  opportunities  for  the  repeated 
use  of  the  correct  form.  Once  more  it  is  to  be  emphasized  that 
there  is  to  be  almost  no  reference  to  reasons  for  the  correction. 

In  a  way,  however,  the  teacher  may  make  use  of  certain 


GRAMMAR  — CORRECTION  OF  ERRORS  259 

principles  of  concord  and  of  grammatical  use  which  will  form 
the  basis  of  later  formal  study.  For  example,  the  use  of  the 
singular  and  plural  forms  of  the  verbs  may  easily  be  explained 
by  having  the  children  see  that  where  they  are  speaking  of  but 
one  thing,  they  use  "is"  or  "has";  and  that  where  they  are 
speaking  of  more  than  one,  they  use  *'are,"  "were,"  or  "have." 
But  the  mode  of  approach  should  be  made  through  the  constant 
repetition  of  the  correct  forms,  and  the  children,  by  comparison 
of  maiiy  sentences,  and  by  constant  use  of  the  correct  forms, 
and  by  untiring  correction  by  the  teacher,  should  be  led 
to  formulate  for  themselves  the  principle  of  concord  that  is 
exemplified  by  these  forms  of  expression. 

When  the  plurals  of  nouns  are  taken  up,  the  teacher  need 
not  use  the  technical  word.  In  some  locaHties,  however, 
where  English  is  a  native  rather  than  a  foreign  tongue,  chil- 
dren may  become  accustomed  to  the  use  of  the  word  "plural," 
understanding  that  the  word  means  more  than  one. 

The  fourth  year  may  be  given  up  to  drill  on  the  part  of  irregu- 
lar verbs  in  frequent  use,  and  on  the  comparative  and  superla- 
tive forms  of  adjectives.  In  general,  the  teacher  must  bear  in 
mind  that  until  the  formal  study  of  technical  grammar  begins, 
there  should  be  a  minimum  use  of  technical  terms.  When 
a  correct  form  has  been  taught  to  the  children,  reference  may 
be  made  to  it  when  the  teacher  corrects  their  oral  or  written 
compositions.  For  example,  if  the  child  uses  a  superlative  form 
in  comparing  two  objects,  the  teacher,  instead  of  substituting 
the  correct  form  at  once,  calls  the  attention  of  the  children 
to  the  language  lessons  in  which  this  particular  kind  of  error 
was  treated,  and  the  child  should  make  his  own  correction. 
It  may  be  said  that  this  is  the  principle  which  should  domi- 
nate the  work.  When  once  a  form  of  expression  has  been  made 
the  basis  of  regular  study  in  the  language  lesson,  the  correc- 
tion of  that  form  should  be  made  by  the  children  with  but 
shght  suggestion  from  the  teacher. 


26o  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

In  the  fifth  year,  the  drill  on  correct  forms  may  extend  the 
nim[iber  of  irregular  verbs  studied,  and  may  include  some 
of  the  more  frequently  misused  prepositions,  while  in  the 
latter  half  of  this  year  the  study  of  the  personal  pronoun, 
particularly  when  it  forms  a  part  of  a  compound  subject  or  pred- 
icate, is  taken  up.  Since  the  study  of  grammar  in  the  second 
half  of  the  fifth  year  includes  the  distinguishing  of  the  subject 
word,  the  predicate  verb,  and  the  complement  of  the  verb, 
the  children  may  be  led  to  formulate  some  such  principles  of 
correction  as  these:  "He  told  John  and  I  not  to  take  the  book." 
We  cannot  use  "I"  because  John  and  I  make  up  the  comple- 
ment of  the  active  verb.  The  word  to  be  used  in  the  com- 
plement of  an  active  verb  is  *'me"  and  not  "I."  The  children 
may  in  this  way  give  rules  of  grammar  within  the  limits  of  the 
knowledge  with  which  they  are,  up  to  that  particular  stage, 
equipped. 

In  the  sixth  year,  the  drills  on  correct  forms  may  include 
the  use  of  irregular  verbs,  of  prepositions,  and  of  relative  pro- 
nouns. In  the  second  half  of  the  year,  and  from  that  point 
to  the  end  of  the  course,  formal  grammar  may  be  made 
the  more  important  part  of  the  work.  The  drill  on  correct 
forms  becomes  the  application  to  the  speech  of  the  children 
of  the  regular  principles  developed  in  the  course  of  the  work 
in  grammar.  How  this  application  is  to  be  effected,  and  what 
these  principles  are,  will  be  shown  later. 

Summary. — Teaching  in  grammar  begins  with  the  correction  by 
the  teacher  of  errors  made  by  the  children.  Habits  of  correct  speech 
should  be  developed  through  imitation.  In  this  work  the  psy- 
chology of  habit  formation  should  be  carefully  observed.  Where 
possible,  technical  terms  may  be  introduced  in  an  incidental  way. 


CHAPTER  XXV 
GRAMMAR  (Concluded) 

Formal  Study 

In  taking  up  the  discussion  of  the  methods  to  be  adopted 
in  the  teaching  of  formal  English  grammar,  we  must  set  forth 
clearly  a  fundamental  difference  between  the  mode  of  treat- 
ment which  we  advocate  and  that  set  forth  in  the  ordinary 
course  of  study.  In  the  usual  syllabus  the  earlier  instruction 
in  grammar  is  intended  to  be  to  a  greater  or  less  extent  formal; 
e.g.,  conducted  with  a  view  to  developing  inductively  certain 
principles  which  are  to  find  their  application  in  the  composition 
work  of  the  last  years  of  the  course.  Such  a  procedure  is 
opposed  to  the  correct  method,  and  is  almost  certain  to  lead 
to  a  separation  between  accuracy  in  the  use  of  language  and 
a  knowledge  of  those  laws  which  are  the  generalizations  based 
upon  correct  usage.  From  the  very  beginning,  the  work  in 
grammar  should  grow^  out  of  the  spoken  and  written  work  of 
the  pupils,  and  should  find  its  immediate  application  in  the 
correction  of  errors  to  be  found  in  their  compositions  and  in 
their  speech.  In  other  words,  in  this  branch  of  formal  Eng- 
lish, just  as  in  the  formal  study  and  drill  upon  correct  forms  for 
expression,  the  basis  of  the  work  should  be  the  language  of  the 
children,  and  its  appUcation  should  be  the  correction  of  their 
errors. 

A  principle  of  grammar  as  such  responds  to  no  immediate  or 
even  remote  need  in  the  developing  experience  of  the  children. 
But  any  principle  which  presents  in  brief  form  a  rule  for  the  cor- 
rection of  errors  which  the  child  knows  that  he  continually  makes, 


262  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

is  a  short  cut  in  correction.  If  the  ideal  set  up  by  the  children 
for  themselves  because  of  the  model  set  by  the  teacher,  and 
because  of  the  suggestions  continually  made  as  to  the  value  of 
correct  English  as  a  sign  of  culture,  is  sufficiently  potent  and 
vital  for  them,  there  will  be  an  ever  present  motive  for  technical 
study.  It  is,  therefore,  to  be  remembered  that  in  all  our  work 
the  intimate  relation  should  never  be  lost  between  the  study 
of  grammar  and  the  composition  work  of  the  class. 

It  may  seem  a  formidable  thing  to  say  tHat  the  study  of 
grammar  should  begin  with  the  fourth  year.  It  is  to  be  noted, 
however,  that  there  is  to  be  no  use  of  technical  terms.  A 
classification  of  sentences  is  called  for,  but  this  classification 
is  based  entirely  upon  the  analysis  of  the  thought.  In  this 
year  the  study  should  be  purely  inductive;  that  is  to  say,  the 
classes  are  to  be  formed  and  named  after  many  examples  have 
been  given  by  the  teacher. 

The  motive  for  this  study  may  be  the  fact  that  the  children, 
in  their  written  work,  will  frequently  give  as  sentences  expres- 
sions which  do  not  make  complete  sense.  For  example,  there 
will  be  a  long  subject,  but  the  predicate  will  be  omitted.  Some- 
times, where  a  child  wishes  to  make  a  complex  statement  about 
some  idea  which  he  has  in  mind,  the  second  sentence  will  begin 
with  a  predicate  or  will  include  nothing  but  a  dependent  clause. 
The  mode  of  approach  to  this  study  may  be,  first,  the  state- 
ment made  by  the  teacher  that  every  sentence,  that  is  to  say, 
every  part  of  written  composition  included  between  the 
initial  letter  and  the  final  period,  must  tell  a  complete  thought. 
There  must  be  something  spoken  about,  and  we  must  tell 
something  about  it.  The  separation  of  this  sentence  into 
these  two  parts  of  logical  subject  and  logical  predicate  is 
not  to  be  attempted  in  this  grade. 

The  teacher  may  select  from  the  answers  made  by  the  chil- 
dren in  the  course  of  lessons,  answers  which  she  hurriedly  jots 
down  on  paper  kept  ready  for  the  purpose,  or  from  their  written 


GRAMMAR  — FORMAL  STUDY  263 

compositions,  statements  which  do  not  express  the  complete 
thought  which  she  has  already  set  forth  as  the  fundamental 
characteristic  of  a  complete  sentence.  These  may  be  written 
with  heavy  crayon  on  large  sheets  of  oak-tag  in  advance  of  the 
lesson,  and  should  at  the  right  time  be  displayed  to  the  class. 
Pupils  will  in  all  probability  recognize  their  own  statements. 

The  teacher  may  then  call  upon  the  particular  pupil  to  tell 
in  full  what  idea  he  had  in  mind  when  he  made  the  statement 
selected  as  the  subject  for  study.  In  the  first  part  of  the  work, 
the  teacher  should  select  only  those  sentences  which  come 
under  the  first  class  of  sentences  given  for  study  in  this  grade; 
that  is,  sentences  which  tell  what  things  do. 

In  all  probabiUty,  most  of  the  examples  given  by  the  teacher 
will  be  incomplete  answers  made  by  the  children  in  response 
to  questions  asked  in  the  course  of  the  lessons.  The  immediate 
application  of  this  work  will  be  the  insistence  upon  complete 
answers  to  be  given  by  the  children  to  questions  in  every  lesson. 
The  drill  may  consist  of  a  series  of  subjects,  for  example,  the 
names  of  subjects  or  of  persons  given  by  the  teacher,  and  the 
task  of  the  children  will  be  to  complete  these  by  telling  what 
these  things  or  persons  do.  A  second  form  of  drill  may  con- 
sist of  giving  a  niunber  of  words  which  tell  of  the  actions  of 
the  things,  leaving  blank  the  names  of  the  things  or  persons 
performing  the  action.  Once  more  the  task  of  the  children  is 
to  make  the  complete  sentence. 

It  is  entirely  unnecessary  that  the  teacher  should  feel  re- 
stricted to  the  kind  of  exercise  usually  given  in  the  text  books 
on  English;  that  is,  exercises  which  contain  but  a  single  word 
for  the  subject  and  a  single  word  for  the  predicate.  Longer 
ones  are  just  as  clear  to  the  children  as  the  single  word,  al- 
though it  must  be  remembered  that  the  first  steps  in  this  work 
should  be  the  simplest. 

Since  the  application  of  this  work  is  to  be  to  the  answers 
given  by  the  children  in  the  course  of  the  other  lessons  of  the 


264  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

grade,  care  should  be  taken  by  the  teacher  that  in  her  selec- 
tion of  examples  she  base  the  work  largely  upon  close  correla- 
tion with  the  other  subjects.  For  example,  if  there  are  certain 
topics  taken  up  in  nature  study  for  that  particular  week,  and 
if  the  nature  study  lesson  is  one  of  the  development  type,  the 
study  of  one  specimen  for  the  purpose  of  reaching  a  generaliza- 
tion regarding  it,  it  may  be  well  to  have  the  language  work 
of  that  week  center  about  the  nature  study  lesson.  If  a  story 
has  been  taken  up  for  extended  treatment  in  oral  reproduction, 
the  sentences  for  another  week  may  be  based  upon  the  subject 
matter  of  that  story.  If  a  new  topic  has  been  taken  up  in 
arithmetic,  and  the  children  are  likely  to  be  called  upon  to  make 
explanations  in  connection  with  it,  the  sentences  at  that  par- 
ticular time  may  be  grouped  around  the  idea  of  the  arithmetic 
lesson. 

Sentences  should  be  classified  into  those  that  tell  (i)  what 
things  do;  (2)  what  is  done  to  things;  (3)  what  the  quality  of 
things  is;  and  (4)  what  things  are. 

It  would  perhaps  seem  somewhat  more  natural  to  study  as 
the  second  type  of  sentence  the  form  which  tells  what  things  are. 
This  might  seem  to  correspond  to  the  type,  "What  things  do." 
Several  reasons,  however,  may  be  advanced  for  postponing 
such  study  to  a  later  period.  In  the  first  place,  the  difference 
between  these  two  types  is  slight.  Hence  it  will  be  difficult 
sharply  to  discriminate  between  them.  In  the  beginning  of 
all  analysis,  discriminations  should  be  between  things  as  much 
unlike  as  possible.  It  requires  a  larger  apperceptive  back- 
ground and  a  greater  familiarity  with  detail  to  make  fine  dis- 
tinctions, while  discriminations  of  the  coarser  sort,  on  the  other 
hand,  tend  to  furnish  this  largeness  of  background  and  this 
increase  in  the  knowledge  of  detail.  We  make  one  percept 
clearer  if  we  distinguish  it  sharply  from  another.  The  greater 
the  intrinsic  differences  between  two  classes,  the  sharper  will 
be  the  discrimination.    It  is,  therefore,  advisable  to  select, 


GRAMMAR  — FORMAL  STUDY  265 

as  the  second  type  studied,  one  that  is  as  unlike  the  first  as 
possible. 

There  is  a  second  reason  why  the  next  tj^e  of  sentence 
studied  should  not  be  that  which  tells  what  things  are.  It 
will  be  seen  that  because  of  intrinsic  relationship  the  four 
types  actually  fall  into  two  groups,  each  containing  two 
tj^es.  "What  things  do"  and  "What  is  done  to  things" 
make  a  unit;  similarly,  "What  the  qualities  of  things  are"  and 
"What  things  are,"  are  related.  It  is  a  very  easy  step  from 
the  statement  of  what  things  do  to  the  statement  of  what  is 
done  to  things.  Yet  the  second  type  of  sentence  will  be  so 
much  unlike  the  first  in  form,  although  related  to  it  in  mean- 
ing, that  the  differences  will  be  great  enough  to  permit  imme- 
diate and  complete  discrimination.  Furthermore,  the  third  and 
fourth  are  similarly  related.  In  the  third  tj^e  we  have  in 
mind  a  certain  object,  and  select  from  its  many  qualities  one, 
which,  for  the  purposes  of  the  immediate  statement,  is  to  be 
considered  as  characteristic.  In  other  words,  we  make  expUcit 
one  of  the  factors  differentiating  this  object  from  others  and 
making  it  a  distinctive  thing  of  its  kind.  For  example,  we 
may  say,  "The  Andes  Mountains  are  the  highest  in  the  western 
hemisphere."  In  this  statement,  from  the  many  things  which 
may  be  said  about  the  Andes  Mountains,  from  the  many  per- 
ceptional elements  with  which  the  name,  Andes  Mountains, 
is  immediately  associated  in  the  mind,  we  may  select  the  one 
which,  for  our  purposes,  gives  the  distinguishing  mark  of  the 
subject.  In  the  fourth  t)^e,  the  mental  process,  namely  that 
of  selecting  a  characteristic  quality  from  the  many  associated 
elements  brought  into  the  margin  of  consciousness  at  the  men- 
tion of  the  subject,  is  the  same  as  that  made  explicit  in  the  third 
type  of  sentence.  But  here  the  abstraction  of  a  quality  re- 
mains implicit,  and  mentally  there  is  a  leap  from  this  quality 
to  some  other  class  of  which  the  abstracted  quality  may  be 
considered  typical. 


266  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

The  judgment,  or,  grammatically  speaking,  the  sentence  is 
the  declaration  of  the  identity  between  the  subject  first  pro- 
posed in  consciousness,  and  the  class  or  the  object  suggested 
by  the  quaUty  abstracted  from  the  subject  and  held  momen- 
tarily in  the  focus  of  consciousness  as  a  factor  in  the  recall  of 
this  associated  object.  For  example,  we  may  say,  "The  Andes 
Mountains  form  the  continental  ridge  of  South  America." 
Here  the  abstracted  idea  is  the  notion  of  the  height  of  these 
mountains,  and  the  fact  that  they  constitute  a  table  land. 
This  idea,  suspended  in  consciousness,  suggests  the  larger  idea 
of  continental  ridge,  and  it  is  only  the  latter  which  finds 
expression  in  the  sentence  or  the  judgment. 

This  intrinsic  relationship  between  the  first  and  the  second 
type,  and  between  the  third  and  the  fourth  type,  is  an  added 
reason  why  the  grouping  should  be  that  suggested  in  the  course 
of  study  rather  than  one  based  upon  what,  at  first  sight,  seems 
a  more  natural  sequence. 

The  relationship  between  the  sentences  of  the  first  and  of 
the  second  t3rpe  suggests  the  method  that  should  be  adopted 
in  the  study  of  the  second  form.  The  motive  given  to  the 
children  should  be  the  desire  to  secure  variety  in  their  expres- 
sion. The  general  ideal  set  for  them  by  the  teacher  is  that  of 
avoiding  monotony.  It  may  be  expressed  in  some  such  state- 
ment as,  "If  we  were  always  to  use  the  same  kind  of  sentence, 
people  would  become  tired  of  listening  to  us,  or  of  reading  what 
we  have  written.  If  we  want  them  to  be  interested,  we  must 
use  different  ways  of  telling  our  thoughts  to  them."  Examples 
may  be  given  by  reading  from  the  reader  or  some  other  book 
within  the  actual  experience  or  easy  comprehension  of  the 
children,  such  quotations  as  will  show  where  sentences  in  the 
passive  form  have  been  used  to  secure  variety. 

The  class  may  be  led  to  note  the  relief  from  monotony 
secured  by  this  alternation  of  form.  The  next  step  may  then 
be  to  take  numbers  of  sentences  from  those  already  given 


GRAMMAR  —  FORMAL  STUDY  267 

by  the  children  in  their  study  of  the  first  type,  and  to  change 
them  into  sentences  of  the  second  type.  The  appHcation  of 
this  work  may  be  to  the  written  compositions  of  the  class.  As 
has  already  been  suggested,  these  compositions  may  be  kept 
in  composition  books,  or,  if  the  themes  are  written  on  separate 
sheets  of  paper,  the  work  of  each  pupil  may  be  kept  in  a  sepa- 
rate envelope.  One  period  may  be  devoted  to  having  the  chil- 
dren look  over  their  compositions,  select  sentences  which  are  of 
the  first  type,  and,  where  they  think  it  would  add  to  the  effect, 
change  the  form.  It  may  be  objected  that  this  kind  of  work 
will  result  in  the  production  of  a  correction  paper  which  will 
be  anything  but  neat.  There  will  be  interlineations,  erasures, 
etc.  This  is  very  true.  But,  after  all,  the  aim  is  not  to  keep 
immaculate  the  written  work  of  the  children.  At  a  later  time 
it  may  be  advisable  to  rewrite  the  compositions  of  the  children 
if  corrections  have  been  made,  the  purpose  then  being  to  turn 
out  a  clean  copy. 

The  formal  drill  in  the  study  of  this  type  should  include  the 
changing  of  sentences  from  the  active  form  to  the  passive  form, 
and  vice  versa.  The  technical  words,  active  and  passive,  need 
not  be  given  to  the  class.  With  the  brighter  group  of  pupils, 
however,  there  is  no  harm  in  giving  these  terms,  and  in  requiring 
their  use.  It  is  just  as  easy  for  a  class  to  refer  to  a  sentence  of 
the  first  t3^e  as  a  sentence  in  the  active  form  and  to  a  sentence 
of  the  second  type  as  a  sentence  in  the  passive  form,  as  it  is  to 
have  the  class  say  that  the  former  tells  what  things  do,  and  the 
latter,  what  is  done  to  things.  Even  if  the  technical  terms, 
however,  are  given,  it  is  essential,  if  we  are  to  form  the  immediate 
association  between  the  thought  in  the  mind  of  the  pupil  and 
the  sentence  in  which  that  form  finds  expression,  to  use  the  more 
descriptive  terms  in  all  the  early  steps  of  the  work. 

In  connection  with  this  study,  the  teaching  of  important 
plural  forms  of  nouns  may  be  required.  This  will  carry  with  it 
a  review  of  the  exercises  on  correct  forms  of  expression  which 


268  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

were  given  in  the  work  of  the  third  year.  The  object  here 
should  be  to  focalize  the  attention  of  the  class  empirically  upon 
concord  of  subject  and  predicate.  Where,  in  the  study  of  the 
sentences  of  the  first  t)^e,  the  drill  calls  on  the  children  to 
complete  the  sentence,  the  first  question  asked  by  the  teacher 
should  be,  "Must  the  thing  that  we  are  talking  about  be  one 
thing  or  more  than  one?"  A  study  of  the  form  of  the  verb 
will  show  whether  a  singular  or  plural  subject  is  called  for. 
Similarly,  when  we  have  a  subject  given,  the  first  question 
should  be,  "What  kind  of  word  must  we  use?  One  that  tells 
what  is  done  by  one  thing  or  one  that  tells  what  is  done  by 
more  than  one  thing?  What  form  of  the  verb  must  we  use?  " 
This  kind  of  exercise  will  give  an  immediate  application  of 
the  drill  on  correct  forms  of  expression,  and  will,  moreover, 
afford  an  opportunity  for  an  intelligent  review  of  what  has 
been  taken  up  in  earlier  grades. 

Fourth  Year  —  Second  Hale 

The  study  of  the  sentences  of  the  third  and  fourth  types 
should,  in  a  general  way,  be  conducted  by  a  method  similar  to 
that  suggested  for  the  first  two  forms.  Since  the  general  nature 
of  the  idea  expressed  in  the  third  type  of  sentence  is  different 
from  that  of  the  first,  the  mode  of  approach  will  be  somewhat 
different.  In  this  type,  the  essential  idea  is  descriptive.  The 
sentence  is  the  expression  of  a  judgment  regarding  an  object 
present  to  the  senses  or  recalled  in  imagination.  The  first  work 
may,  therefore,  be  the  formation  of  sentences  descriptive  of 
objects  presented  to  the  class.  It  would  be  well  to  establish 
some  sort  of  correlation  between  this  work  and  the  study  of  the 
model  in  description.  The  teacher  should  place  emphasis 
upon  the  choice  of  suitable  adjectives. 

A  distinguishing  mark  of  good  style  is  the  ability  to  choose 
words  which  are  at  once  specific  and  suggestive.  On  the  one 
hand,  the  adjective  should  be  so  aptly  chosen  as  to  bring  to  the 


GRAMMAR— FORMAL  STUDY  269 

mind  of  the  reader  a  definite  picture  of  that  phase  of  the  object 
which  it  is  the  intention  of  the  writer  to  convey.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  adjective  should  be  so  chosen  that  it  is,  to  a  certain 
degree,  characteristic  of  the  object  in  connection  with  which  it 
is  used,  so  that  the  adjective  itself  will  recall  the  name  of  the 
object.  It  will  be  found  that  the  tendency  of  the  children  at  the 
beginning  will  be  merely  to  give  any  kind  of  descriptive  word 
without  much  regard  to  its  force  or  suitability.  It  should  be 
the  aim  of  the  teacher  to  develop  the  feeling  that  there  is  but  one 
adjective  which  is  the  inevitably  right  one,  and  to  encourage  the 
children  to  reject  all  suggested  words  until  the  exact  one  has 
been  given.  In  order  to  make  this  idea  clear  to  the  class,  the 
teacher  may  find  it  helpful  to  present  good  illustrations  from 
standard  authors. 

At  times,  it  will  be  found  valuable  to  carry  on  a  lesson  or  a 
series  of  lessons  analytically.  The  teacher  may  prepare  for  the 
children  copies  of  excellent  models,  or  a  passage  may  be  selected 
from  a  reader  or  from  some  other  text  book  for  study.  The  class 
may  then  be  called  upon  to  go  through  the  model  or  the  selection 
for  the  purpose  of  picking  out  those  sentences  which  tell  what 
the  quaUties  of  things  are.  In  a  little  while  children  should  be 
able  to  separate  such  sentences  into  the  two  parts;  one,  giving 
the  name  of  the  object,  the  other,  its  quality.  The  teacher  who 
takes  up  this  work  will  undoubtedly  discover  that  sentences  of 
this  t3^e  usually  require  the  use  of  a  copula.  Once  more  it 
must  be  emphasized  that  the  technical  names  are  not  to  be 
given  to  the  class.  In  fact,  it  is  not  desirable  that  they  should 
be  used  by  the  teacher.  This,  however,  is  no  reason  why  the 
teacher  should  not  effect  improvements  in  method  because  of 
her  knowledge  of  the  larger  truths  underlying  the  work  of  the 
children.  The  sentence  containing  a  copula  is  really  only  the 
amplification  of  a  purely  descriptive  subjective  statement. 
Thus  the  sentence  —  *^The  house  is  beautifully  decorated"  — 
really  is  the  expression  of  a  judgment  based  upon  the  percept 


270  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

of  the  beautifully  decorated  house.  It  will,  therefore,  be  a 
valuable  exercise  for  the  teacher  to  give  to  the  class  merely  the 
expression  of  a  number  of  such  perceptional  judgments;  that  is, 
the  names  of  objects  with  descriptive  words  telling  what  that 
object  is  like,  and  what  its  distinguishing  or  characteristic  marks 
are.  The  work  of  the  children  may  be  to  take  this  statement 
and  expand  it  into  regular  sentence  form.  In  this  way,  without 
the  use  of  any  technical  language  and  without  any  attempt  to 
have  the  children  go  through  the  steps  of  parsing,  we  are  building 
up  empirically  in  their  minds  the  notion  of  the  attribute. 

The  application  of  this  study  to  the  work  of  the  children  will 
be  twofold.  In  the  first  place,  the  teacher  may  call  for  a  more 
careful  choice  of  the  adjectives  by  the  children.  In  the  second 
place,  it  will  be  noted  by  reference  to  the  course  of  study  that 
the  drill  on  correct  forms  of  expression  includes  a  study  of 
comparatives  and  superlatives.  While  the  idea  of  comparison 
need  not  be  taken  up  technically,  the  word  "compare''  should 
be  made  familiar  to  the  children.  Drill  on  the  right  forms  of 
the  comparative  and  the  superlative,  the  avoidance  of  double 
comparatives  and  double  superlatives,  and  the  use  of  the  com- 
parative when  but  two  objects  are  considered,  the  superlative 
being  reserved  for  more  than  two  objects:  —  all  these  are  practi- 
cal applications  to  the  speech  and  the  writing  of  the  children, 
and  furnish  opportunities  for  reviewing  the  study  of  the  third 
type  of  sentence. 

The  entire  class  may  not  be  able  to  grasp  the  rules  that  the 
comparative  always  implies  an  exclusion  while  the  superlative 
involves  an  inclusion  of  objects.  This  concept  is  difficult  and 
is  in  most  cases  beyond  the  comprehension  of  the  child  in  the 
fourth  year.  Such  instruction,  however,  may  be  given  to  the 
pupils  of  the  brighter  group.  It  will  be  found  that  at  every 
stage  of  the  work  it  is  advisable  to  establish  a  minimimi  of  the 
subject  matter  to  be  covered  so  that  the  teacher  may  know  just 
how  much  knowledge  should  be  gained  by  the  children  if  they 


GRAMMAR  —  FORMAL  STUDY  271 

are  to  be  fitted  to  take  up  the  work  of  the  next  higher  grade. 
On  the  other  hand,  it  is  equally  advisable  to  reserve  certain 
features  of  more  intensive  study  so  that  the  brightest  children 
may  have  an  opportunity  to  exercise  their  full  powers  on  their 
work.  A  test  should,  however,  be  restricted  to  the  work 
covered  by  the  entire  class. 

For  the  study  of  the  fourth  type  it  is  unnecessary  to  add  many 
suggestions  to  those  already  given.  The  teacher  should  bear 
in  mind  what  are  the  psychological  elements  involved  in  the 
judgment  expressed  by  a  sentence  of  this  type.  Wherever  the 
children  are  showing  a  tendency  to  give  a  sentence  that  does 
not  carry  much  thought  with  it,  the  teacher  should  call  upon 
the  pupils  to  state  what  was  the  quality  of  the  subject  which 
caused  the  pupil  to  identify  that  subject  with  the  class  in 
which  the  subject  has  been  placed  by  the  judgment  expressed 
in  the  sentence.  Thus,  in  "the  man  is  a  hero,"  the  notion  of 
bravery  should  be  shown  to  be  the  common  quality.  If  this 
kind  of  formal  work  does  nothing  more  than  direct  the  atten- 
tion of  the  children  to  the  intimate  relation  between  the 
thought  in  the  mind  of  the  speaker  and  the  form  of  the  sen- 
tence, it  will  have  accomplished  its  purpose. 

Fifth  Year  —  First  Half 

The  new  work  for  this  grade  may  be  made  the  analysis  of  the 
sentences  into  the  logical  subject  and  the  logical  predicate.  In 
the  higher  grades,  where  this  kind  of  work  is  usually  taken  up, 
most  teachers  use  the  term  "logical  subject  and  logical  predi- 
cate"; and  later,  when  the  subject  word  or  the  predicate  verb 
is  selected,  they  refer  to  these  as  the  "grammatical  subject"  and 
the  "grammatical  predicate."  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  word 
logical  means  absolutely  nothing  to  the  child.  It  may  be 
questioned  whether  the  average  teacher  knows  why  the  word 
logical  should  be  used.  The  isolation  of  one  particular  word 
from  the  subject  and  one  particular  word  from  the  predicate  is 


272  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

a  purely  technical  process  made  valuable  only  by  the  exigencies 
of  the  study  of  grammar.  For  the  children  that  which  they  are 
thinking  about  and  talking  about  is  the  subject  and  that  which 
is  said  about  this  thing  is  the  predicate.  These  words  should 
therefore  be  used.  Some  teachers  may  choose  to  add  complete 
and  refer  to  the  former  as  the  complete  subject  and  to  the  latter 
as  the  complete  predicate.  There  is  no  objection  to  such  use. 
The  word  complete  carries  with  it  a  certain  definite  idea  usually 
grasped  by  the  children. 

But  the  mere  analysis  of  the  sentences  into  these  two  parts 
is,  after  all,  only  an  analytic  process.  The  sentences,  it  is  true, 
may  come  from  the  compositions  of  the  children,  from  their 
speech,  and  from  the  subject  matter  of  their  reading.  This, 
however,  is  fulfilling  only  one  of  the  two  conditions  that  we  have 
set  forth  as  necessary  to  all  successful  work.  The  second  is 
that  the  principles  developed  should  find  immediate  and  ready 
application  to  the  language  expression  of  the  children.  Of 
course,  the  correction  of  sentence  structure  such  as  was  taken  up 
in  the  fourth  year  should  be  continued.  Violations  of  the  law 
of  sentence  unity  should  be  corrected  and  the  reasons  for  the 
correction  may  now  be  given  in  somewhat  more  formal  and 
technical  language. 

This,  however,  is  not  enough.  The  suggestion  is  therefore 
made  that  the  teacher  take  up  the  topic  of  securing  variety  in 
the  introduction  of  sentences  by  at  times  throwing  the  predicate 
or  a  part  of  the  predicate  before  the  subject.  The  name 
"phrase"  need  not  be  used.  After  the  sentence  has  been 
given  in  the  direct  form  and  has  been  broken  up  into  its  subject 
and  its  predicate,  the  teacher  may  ask  whether  it  would  not 
have  been  possible  to  have  the  sentence  begin  with  some  part  of 
the  predicate.  The  application  of  this  work  to  the  written  com- 
positions of  the  children  may  readily  be  understood.  One  of  the 
most  difficult  things  to  secure  in  the  written  work  of  children 
is  the  breaking  away  from  the  direct  statement.     If  this  kind 


GRAMMAR  —  FORMAL  STUDY  273 

of  work  is  begun  as  early  as  the  first  half  of  the  fifth  year,  it  is 
possible  that  at  the  completion  of  the  course  the  children  will 
have  developed  a  freer  and  more  flexible  style.  Furthermore, 
it  has  already  been  suggested  under  the  heading  of  "Drill  on 
the  Correct  Forms"  that  in  the  first  half  of  the  fifth  year  there 
should  be  a  study  of  a  few  of  the  more  frequently  misused 
prepositions.  From  the  fact  that  the  children  will  be  com- 
pelled to  concentrate  upon  these  words,  it  will  be  easier  for 
the  teacher  to  have  the  children  select  the  proper  phrase,  and 
make  it  the  introducing  element  in  the  sentence. 

Fifth  Year  —  Second  Half 

We  have  already  set  down  as  one  of  the  fundamental  principles 
in  the  teaching  of  formal  grammar  that  the  progress  should  be 
from  the  whole  to  its  parts.  That  is  to  say,  from  the  complete 
thought  and  its  expression  in  the  form  of  a  sentence,  gradually 
through  intermediate  forms  to  the  study  of  the  word.  In  the 
first  half  of  the  fifth  year  we  have  suggested  that  the  sentence 
should  be  broken  up  into  its  larger  units;  namely,  the  subject 
and  the  predicate.  In  this  half  of  the  year  the  division  is 
somewhat  finer. 

The  first  work  may  be  to  break  up  the  predicate  into  the 
predicate  verb  and  the  complement.  The  first  step  in  this  work 
should  be  drill  in  naming  the  predicate  verb  as  such.  Num- 
bers of  sentences  should  be  given  and  the  class  called  upon  to 
divide  each  sentence  first  into  subject  and  predicate,  and  then 
to  underline  the  word  or  the  words  expressing  the  action.  The 
drill  on  this  may  be  extended  over  a  number  of  lessons  xmtil 
the  entire  class  has  become  proficient. 

The  next  step  is  to  provide  for  that  portion  of  the  complete 
predicate  which  is  left  after  the  predicate  verb  has  been  isolated. 
A  number  of  sentences  may  be  written  on  the  board  or  read  from 
the  text  book,  and  the  attention  of  the  class  directed  to  the 
relationship  existing  between  the  remaining  words  of  the  predi- 


274  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

cate  and  the  predicate  verb.  Two  general  classes  should  be 
established.  The  first  will  include  those  words  which  in  some 
way  change  the  meaning  of  the  predicate  verb.  These  may  be 
called  the  modifiers.  All  other  parts,  the  class  will  learn  from 
observation  and  inference,  in  some  way  complete  the  idea  ex- 
pressed by  the  verb.  As  a  result  of  our  analysis  up  to  this 
point  we  have  selected  the  complete  subject  and  the  predicate 
verb,  and  have  placed  the  remainder  of  the  predicate  in  one  of 
two  classes,  either  modifier  or  complement.  It  may  be  neces- 
sary to  carry  on  this  general  analysis  for  several  weeks.  At  all 
events,  it  must  be  remembered  by  the  teacher  that  success  at 
every  later  stage  in  the  teaching  of  grammar  will  depend  upon 
the  accuracy  with  which  this  selection  is  made. 

The  third  step  in  the  analysis  may  be  the  breaking  up  of  the 
complement  into  two  classes:  first,  that  kind  of  complement 
which  tells  something  more  about  the  subject,  and  secondly, 
that  kind  of  complement  which  receives  the  action  expressed 
by  the  predicate  verb.  The  appropriate  names  should  be 
given  to  the  two  kinds  of  complements,  and  the  first  kind 
should  at  once  be  related  to  the  third  and  fourth  types  of 
sentences  studied  in  the  fourth  year. 

Application  may  be  made  at  once  to  the  correct  language 
expression  of  the  children.  The  motive  may  be  furnished  by 
giving  to  the  class  a  sentence  such  as,  "It  is  me.''  Then 
after  the  teacher  gives  the  correct  form,  and  says  that  it  will 
be  the  aim  to  find  out  why  one  is  right  and  the  other  is 
wrong,  the  children  may  easily  be  led  to  see  that  where  the 
complement  means  the  same  as  the  subject,  that  word  should 
be  used  which  would  have  been  foimd  in  the  subject  itself. 
The  teacher  will  see  that  in  this  lesson,  as  with  every  lesson 
involving  the  study  of  case,  the  first  sentences  should  always 
be  those  requiring  the  use  of  pronouns.  It  is  only  with  the 
pronoun  that  the  change  in  the  word  itsglf  shows  the  inflection. 

When  the  fact  has  been  properly  impressed  upon  the  children 


GRAMMAR  —  FORMAL  STUDY  275 

that  when  the  complement  means  the  same  as  the  subject  the 
word  used  in  the  complement  should  be  that  word  that  would 
have  been  used  as  the  subject,  all  other  forms  may  be  disposed  of 
merely  by  the  method  of  logical  exclusion.  That  is,  where  the 
complement  does  not  mean  the  same  as  the  subject  we  should 
not  use  that  word  that  would  have  been  used  as  the  subject. 
This  will  give  a  sort  of  reason  for  the  correction  of  the  error. 
"He  told  you  and  I  what  to  do." 

It  is  probable  that  this  work  will  be  completed  about  the 
middle  of  the  term.  The  next  step  may  be  the  further  analysis 
of  the  subject  so  as  to  isolate  the  subject  noun.  The  extension 
of  this  work  to  the  formation  of  sentences  that  have  compound 
subjects,  together  with  the  study  of  the  concord  of  the  verb 
with  a  compound  subject  will  follow  very  easily  and  will  find 
ready  application  in  the  correction  of  errors  made  by  the  children. 
Furthermore,  the  study  of  the  punctuation  of  words  in  series, 
which  should  be  taken  up  in  the  dictation  lessons,  will  grow 
naturally  out  of  the  study  of  the  compound  subject  or  the 
compound  predicate. 

Technical  names  for  the  various  complements  need  not  be 
taught  in  this  grade.  The  children  have  not  yet  become  ac- 
quainted with  the  term  noun,  adjective,  pronoun,  and,  therefore, 
we  cannot  speak  of  predicate  adjectives,  predicate  nouns, 
predicate  pronouns,  and  the  like.  It  may  be  found  advisable 
to  use  the  terms,  attribute  and  object,  respectively,  to  denote 
the  two  kinds  of  complements  taken  up  in  this  work.  All  the 
sentences  should  be  of  the  conventional  type;  that  is,  they 
should  not  involve  any  of  those  unusual  forms,  the  study  of 
which  calls  for  concentration  and  technical  knowledge  beyond 
the  powers  of  the  children. 

Sixth  Year  —  First  Half 

In  the  work  of  this  grade  practically  the  most  important  part 
may  be  made  the  development  of  the  definitions  of  the  parts 


276  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

of  speech.  The  general  principle  may  be  briefly  stated.  All 
development  in  grammar  should  be  the  result  of  an  inductive 
process  based  upon  many  examples  given  by  the  teacher  and 
drawn  from  the  regular  written  or  spoken  language  of  the  class. 
All  analysis  should  be  taken  up  as  deductive  work.  In  order  to 
illustrate  what  is  meant  by  the  inductive  development  of  the 
definition  of  a  part  of  speech,  we  shall  use  a  lesson  on  the  adverb 
given  by  Bagley  in  his  "Educative  Process"  under  the  topic  of 
the  inductive  development  lesson.  We  shall,  to  a  large  extent, 
use  his  language,  adapting  only  slightly  here  and  there.  In 
his  lesson,  Bagley  has  followed  faithfully  the  five  formal  steps  of 
the  regular  Herbartian  lesson. 

The  preparation  for  the  series  of  lessons,  the  object  of  which 
is  the  development  of  the  definition  of  the  adverb,  should  consist 
of  the  definitions  of  other  parts  of  speech  already  studied  with 
special  emphasis  upon  the  adjective  and  the  verb.  This  natu- 
rally makes  it  a  matter  of  great  importance  to  select  the  right 
order  in  the  development  of  our  parts  of  speech.  The  simpler 
ones,  such  as  the  noun,  the  pronoun,  and  the  verb,  which  repre- 
sent substantive  states  of  consciousness,  should,  of  course,  be 
taken  up  first  and  should  grow  out  of  the  actual  objects  or  acts 
of  which  they  are  the  language  symbols.  The  first  of  the 
modifying  parts  of  speech  to  be  studied  should  be  the  adjective, 
and  the  preparation  here  should  be  the  reference  to  the  third 
type  of  sentence,  the  condensation  of  this  sentence  into  a  mere 
description  of  the  object  as  a  percept  or  an  image.  From  this 
point,  the  presentation  and  the  formulation  of  the  definition 
will  be  simple. 

With  the  adverb,  then,  we  should  first  review  what  has  already 
been  taught  about  the  adjective.  There  should  be  a  recall  of 
the  analysis  of  the  complete  predicate  such  as  was  taken  up  in 
the  second  half  of  the  fifth  year.  The  teacher  should  once  more 
review  the  difference  between  the  complement  and  the  modifier. 
As  results  of  this  review  certain  ideas  will  have  been  made  clear 


GRAMMAR  —  FORMAL  STUDY  277 

to  the  children.  First,  the  notion  of  the  adjective;  secondly, 
the  isolation  of  the  verb;  and  thirdly,  the  classification  of  certain 
parts  of  the  predicate  as  being  not  complement  but  modifier. 

The  dominant  method  of  this  step  as  with  all  inductive 
development  lessons  is  that  of  questions  and  answers.  The 
teacher  should  use  well  directed  questions  which  will  suggest 
rather  than  tell.  For  the  development  of  the  adverb  the 
questions  will  probably  be  rather  formal.  For  example,  the 
teacher  will  point  out  the  verb  to  the  class  and  will  then  ask, 
"What  does  this  word  do?"  "What  part  of  speech  is  it?" 
*' Define  a  verb."  She  should  then  point  out  an  adjective. 
"What  does  this  word  do?"  "What  part  of  speech  is  it?" 
"Define  an  adjective."  "What  do  you  mean  by  the  word 
modifier ?^^  "What  part  of  the  predicate  is  left  after  we  pick 
out  the  predicate  verb?"  "What  does  this  part  do?"  The 
class  will  say  that  the  remaining  part  of  the  predicate  modifies 
or  changes  the  meaning  of  the  predicate  verb,  and  will  make 
the  statement,  "The  rest  of  the  predicate  comes  under  the 
class  of  modifiers."  Up  to  this  point  the  preparation  should 
have  brought  out  the  facts:  (i)  that  the  adjective  is  one  form 
of  modifier  and  that  it  makes  clearer  the  meaning  of  the  noun 
or  pronoun;  (2)  that  we  have  a  word  or  a  number  of  words 
which  make  clearer  the  meaning  of  the  predicate  verb;  (3)  that 
we  know  these  words  to  be  modifiers  of  some  kind  but  that  we 
do  not  know  what  name  to  give  to  these  modifiers. 

The  statement  of  the  aim  will  be  in  some  such  form  as,  "The 
adjective  makes  clearer  the  meaning  of  the  noun.  What  kind 
of  word  makes  clear  the  meaning  of  the  verb?  " 

Then  comes  the  presentation.  The  actual  facts  should  be 
brought  out  by  a  study  of  sentences  containing  adverbs.  They 
may  be  written  on  the  blackboard  with  blank  spaces  which  the 
children  are  asked  to  fill  in  with  words  that  make  the  meaning 
of  the  verb  clearer,  or  the  teacher  may  write  complete  sentences 
containing  adverbs.    The  pupils,  having  disposed  of  the  other 


278  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

words,  may  be  led  to  say  that  the  adverb  does  for  the  verb  what 
the  adjective  does  for  the  noun. 

In  the  third  step,  that  of  comparison  and  abstraction,  the 
facts  revealed  in  the  second  step  should  be  compared  with  one 
another.  In  the  presentation,  attention  has  been  called  to  a 
new  class  of  words.  The  teacher  asks,  "What  do  all  the  words 
that  we  have  just  pointed  out  do?"  "Are  they  like  any  other 
class  of  words  that  we  have  studied?"  "How?"  "In  what 
respect  do  they  differ  from  adjectives?"  "Look  at  them 
again."  "In  what  respect  does  the  first  one  help  the  verb?" 
"The  second?"  and  so  on,  care  having  been  taken  that  the  ex- 
amples supplied  illustrate  place,  time,  and  manner  of  action, 
interrogation,  and  cause. 

In  the  fourth  step  the  generalization  will  take  the  form  of  a 
definition.  "Any  word  used  to  modify  the  verb  by  answering 
the  question  how,  when,  where,  etc.,  is  called  an  adverb."  The 
definition  should  be  given  in  the  inductive  form.  Frequently 
one  meets  with  a  definition  like,  "A  noun  is  a  word  used  as  a 
name."  In  the  mental  process  preceding  the  actual  definition, 
the  first  step  is  the  recognition  of  the  function  of  the  word  in 
the  sentence.  The  second  step  is  a  comparison  of  that  function 
with  the  functions  of  different  parts  of  speech  already  studied. 
The  third  step  is  the  identification  of  the  function  of  the  particu- 
lar word  with  the  function  of  some  part  of  speech,  and  the  last 
statement  is  the  judgment  that  this  word  is  a  noun,  a  verb,  an 
adjective,  etc.  It  is,  therefore,  more  consistent  to  have  the 
children  first  give  expression  to  what  is  the  first  step  in  their 
mental  process.  "This  word  is  a  word  used  as " — etc.  " There- 
fore, this  word  is  a  noun,  an  adjective,"  etc.  If  this  kind  of 
definition  is  carried  on  consistently  throughout  the  course,  it 
will  be  found  that  the  number  of  ridiculous  errors  made  by 
children  in  parsing  will  decrease. 

In  the  fifth  step  of  the  inductive  lesson,  the  application  will 
naturally  concern  itself  with  the  identification  of  adverbs  in 


GRAMMAR  —  FORMAL  STUDY  279 

given  sentences.  This  in  turn  will  prepare  the  pupil  for  a  suc- 
ceeding lesson  on  the  extension  of  the  definition  to  cover  the 
modification  of  adjectives  and  of  adverbs. 

What  has  been  said  here  regarding  the  form  of  definition  to 
be  used  applies  with  equal  force  to  all  steps  in  the  process  of 
analysis  and  parsing.  When  the  children  classify  a  sentence, 
the  statement  should  not  be,  "  That  the  sentence  is  declarative 
because,"  etc.,  but  it  should  be,  "This  sentence  expresses  so 
and  so  and  therefore  it  is  a  declarative  sentence. '*  One  of  the 
ends  that  will  be  secured  by  this  kind  of  statement  will  be  that 
the  first  object  of  attention  for  the  children  will  be  the  idea 
expressed  in  the  sentence  or  by  the  word,  and  the  early  rec- 
ognition of  the  fact  that  all  parsing  grows  out  of  the  idea 
expressed  through  the  functioning  of  the  w^ord. 

Reference  to  an  ordinary  text-book  of  grammar  will  help  the 
teacher  to  find  application  of  the  study  of  the  parts  of  speech 
to  the  correction  of  errors  in  the  language  of  the  children.  It 
is,  therefore,  easy  to  make  the  work  practical.  For  example, 
when  the  adverb  is  studied,  errors  should  be  taken  up  which 
involve  the  use  of  the  adverb  instead  of  the  adjective  and  of 
the  adjective  instead  of  the  adverb.  A  still  further  application 
could  be  made  by  calling  upon  the  children  to  correct  similar 
errors  in  their  written  compositions. 

Sixth  Year  —  Second  Half 

The  study  of  phrases  may  be  begun  in  this  grade,  and  should 
be  approached  from  the  study  of  the  compositions  of  the  class. 
As  has  been  remarked  in  another  connection,  probably  the  most 
frequent  error  to  be  met  with  in  the  composition  of  the  ele- 
mentary school  child  is  the  almost  unbroken  monotony  in  the 
opening  of  the  sentences.  It  is  a  rare  thing  to  find  a  child  who 
in  spontaneous  work  makes  frequent  use  of  the  phrase  for  the 
purpose  of  securing  variety  in  the  introduction.  The  motive 
presented  to  the  children  should  be  the  attempt  so  to  place  the 


28o  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

phrase  as  to  keep  up  the  interest  of  the  reader  and  to  prevent 
fatigue.  The  teacher  should  refer  to  the  fact  that  there  are 
different  sorts  of  elements  of  a  sentence  which  may  be  used  for 
the  purpose  of  getting  this  variety.  She  should  first  make  use 
of  the  knowledge  already  gained  by  the  children  regarding 
adverbs.  It  will  frequently  be  found  that  the  adverb  when 
itself  emphatic  may  be  placed  at  the  beginning  of  a  sentence  to 
heighten  the  effect.  When  the  idea  of  transposition  for  the 
purpose  of  securing  emphasis  or  variety  has  been  well  grasped 
by  the  class,  the  teacher  may  then  suggest  that  it  is  time  to  take 
up  the  study  of  another  useful  element  in  this  kind  of  work. 
This  gives  the  motive  for  the  study  of  the  phrase. 

Naturally,  the  first  study  should  be  from  sentences  in  which 
it  is  easy  to  pick  out  the  sought-for  group  of  words,  and  com- 
paratively easy  to  classify  the  phrase  according  to  its  function: 
that  is,  by  finding  out  what  part  of  speech  the  phrase  modifies 
or  what  fimction  it  performs  in  the  sentence.  It  will  be  found 
advisable  to  take  up  the  study  of  the  phrase  and  to  complete 
the  classification  before  the  use  of  the  phrase  as  a  device  to  secure 
variety  is  taken  up  with  the  class.  This  positive  value  of  the 
study  of  the  phrase,  however,  should  not  cause  the  teacher  to  lose 
sight  of  the  corrective  value.  That  is,  in  the  syntax  work  the 
class  should  study  some  of  the  forms  where  ambiguity  or  humor- 
ous twists  of  thought  are  effected  by  the  misplaced  phrase.  A 
valuable  exercise  is  to  give  a  sentence  containing  a  large  num- 
ber of  phrases  all  thrown  together  in  hap-hazard  fashion,  and  to 
call  upon  the  children  to  rewrite  the  sentence,  arranging  the 
phrases  properly.  It  would  be  well  to  use  this  for  seat  work  and 
to  select  for  the  exercise  sentences  from  some  text-book  in  the 
hands  of  the  children.  The  test  of  the  children's  work  would 
then  be  to  compare  the  sentence  or  the  paragraph  as  finally 
constructed  by  them  with  that  part  of  the  text  to  the  approxi- 
mation of  which  they  should  in  some  degree  have  succeeded. 

In  the  study  of  the  classes  of  the  parts  of  speech  it  is  only 


GRAMMAR  —  FORMAL  STUDY  281 

occasionally  that  one  can  find  an  immediate  application.  For 
example,  in  the  study  of  the  two  classes  of  nouns,  the  proper 
noun  of  course  will  give  to  the  children  a  reason  for  many  of  the 
rules  of  capitalization  which  they  have  studied.  While  there  is 
no  immediate  value  to  the  children  in  the  classification  of  pro- 
nouns, this  part  of  the  work  may  be  made  practical  by  taking  up 
certain  of  the  rules  of  concord  and  of  syntax.  Since  inflection  is 
to  be  studied,  and  inflection  involves  the  study  of  person,  num- 
ber, and  case  particularly,  it  will  be  a  simple  matter  for  the 
teacher  to  find  in  the  speech  and  the  written  work  of  the  children 
sufficient  examples  of  errors  in  the  use  of  the  proper  case  and  the 
like,  to  furnish  a  motive  for  study.  The  approach  should  always 
be  through  the  study  of  the  pronoun,  and  particularly  of  those 
pronouns  the  form  of  which  readily  shows  by  its  change  that 
different  cases  or  numbers  have  been  used.  For  the  most  part, 
these  errors,  it  will  be  found,  have  been  taken  up  in  the  earlier 
grades  under  the  head  of  Drill  in  Common  Errors.  It  is,  how- 
ever, in  this  grade  for  the  first  time  that  the  children  are  led  to 
state  the  principle  which  underlies  the  correction.  If  the  drill 
in  correct  expression  has  been  steady  and  intelligent,  the  habit 
of  using  the  correct  form  should  now  be  fixed.  The  method  we 
are  employing  is  merely  an  illustration  of  the  general  progress 
of  all  habit  formation;  namely,  that  the  act  is  performed  as  a 
result  of  superimposed  authority,  that  the  act  becomes  auto- 
matic through  repetition,  and  that,  finally,  the  act  is  rationalized 
and  made  the  application  of  a  broad  principle. 

Finally  it  may  be  suggested  that  the  study  of  the  con- 
junctions should  be  restricted  to  conjunctions  as  connecting 
words  and  phrases. 

All  the  sentences  through  the  sixth  year  should  be  simple. 

Seventh  Year  —  First  Half 

The  extension  of  the  study  of  grammar  in  the  first  half  of  the 
seventh  year  is  one  that  applies  merely  to  the  amount  of  ground 


282  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

covered,  not  to  the  kind  of  work  done.  The  clause,  which  may 
here  be  taken  up,  should  be  approached  with  the  same  motive 
that  was  supplied  in  the  study  of  the  phrase.  By  far  the  most 
important  part  of  this  grade  work,  however,  is  the  exercise  in 
the  contraction  of  sentences.  The  material  for  the  first  exercises 
should  be  supplied  by  the  teacher,  but  it  will  be  found  valuable 
after  a  certain  amount  of  drill  has  been  given  to  the  class  to  have 
the  pupils  apply  to  their  own  compositions  what  they  have 
learned  regarding  the  modes  of  contraction.  In  this  grade  and 
in  those  which  succeed  it  the  amount  of  application  which  it 
will  be  possible  for  the  children  to  make  is  so  great  that  it 
may  be  found  advisable  to  have  pupils  retain  in  their  posses- 
sion the  envelopes  holding  the  compositions  of  the  preceding 
term.  These  will  be  valuable  not  only  in  furnishing  a  basis 
for  comparison  but  also  in  giving  the  children  a  standard 
whereby  to  measure  their  own  progress. 

The  study  of  the  active  and  passive  voices  of  the  transitive 
verb  may  be  referred  to  the  study  of  the  first  two  types  of  sen- 
tence taken  up  in  the  first  half  of  the  fourth  year. 

Seventh  Year  —  Second  Half 

A  general  review  may  be  given  in  this  grade,  dominated 
by  the  idea  of  making  the  children  familiar  with  the  purely 
formal  side  of  grammar.  Analysis  and  parsing  as  such,  together 
with  the  study  of  declensions,  conjugations,  and  the  like,  should 
take  up  the  work  of  the  entire  term.  It  must  be  remembered 
of  course  that  at  no  time  should  the  application  step  be  lost 
sight  of.  Children  should  never  be  allowed  to  feel  that  gram- 
mar exists  as  a  subject  entirely  apart  from  their  regular 
speech.  On  the  other  hand,  if  we  are  to  give  the  child  a 
foundation  which  will  be  of  value  to  him  in  his  study  of 
another  language,  such  as  German  or  Latin  or  Spanish,  which 
may  be  taken  up  in  the  last  year  of  the  course,  we  must  make 
him  thoroughly  familiar  with  the  terms  that  it  will  be  nee- 


I 

J 


GRAMMAR  —  FORMAL  STUDY  283 

essary  for  him  to  use  when  he  comes  to  study  the  grammar  of 

that  language. 

Eighth  Year 

In  the  eighth  year  a  further  systematic  review  of  the  subject 
may  be  provided,  this  time,  however,  according  to  topics,  and 
also  for  the  teaching  of  the  use  of  the  grammar  as  a  book  of 
reference.  The  teacher  should  present  an  analysis  of  the  sounds 
of  the  English  language  with  some  treatment  of  how  the  organs 
of  the  mouth  should  be  placed  for  correct  utterance.  There 
should  be  a  rapid  review  of  the  most  common  rules  of  spelling. 
Where  children  make  mistakes  in  their  spelUng,  mistakes,  that 
is,  which  come  under  the  few  rules  our  language  can  boast  of, 
the  teacher  may  call  upon  the  child  to  refer  to  a  text-book. 
Rules  for  the  formation  of  the  plural  and  of  the  feminine,  to- 
gether with  the  study  of  etymology,  may  be  studied.  Children 
who  make  errors  coming  under  these  heads  may  be  shown  how 
to  get  at  the  appropriate  place  in  the  grammar  text-book  where 
the  correct  form  or  the  rule  may  be  found.  It  will  be  necessary 
to  have  a  class  study  the  principal  parts  of  many  of  the  irregular 
verbs  directly  from  the  text-book.  The  review  may  include 
all  the  important  rules  of  syntax  based  on  the  study  of  formal 
grammar. 

Throughout  this  year,  the  teacher's  correction  of  compositions 
should  consist  altogether  of  the  mere  indication  in  the  margin  of 
the  principle  that  has  been  violated.  The  child  should  look  up 
the  principle  in  the  text  and  should  not  only  make  the  required 
correction  but  may  also  write  the  number  of  the  section  or  the 
page  of  the  text-book  in  which  will  be  found  the  statement  of 
the  law  which  was  violated.  In  order  to  make  this  correction 
work  effective,  it  will  be  found  in  the  first  half  of  the  eighth 
year  that  one  point  in  particular  may  be  emphasized  each  week 
in  the  correction  of  the  compositions,  with  a  view  to  having  a 
recapitulation  of  the  most  important  topics  by  the  end  of  the 
term.    In  the  last  half  of  the  eighth  year,  the  children  should 


284  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

be  ready  to  detect  errors  in  any  part  of  their  work  without  much 
guidance  from  the  teacher.  A  suggested  mode  of  review  for 
this  study  in  the  first  half  of  the  eighth  year  is  here  given. 

First  week  —  The  correction  work  should  be  centered  upon  the 
sequence  of  topics  in  the  paragraphs.  This  will  call  for  careful 
study  of  the  outline.  It  may  be  said  that  this  is  a  study  not  of 
grammar  but  of  style.  It  is  true  that  if  the  children  made  any 
errors  in  this  particular  it  would  be  difficult,  if  even  possible,  to 
select  any  rule  in  the  grammar  text-book  which  has  been  violated 
by  the  faulty  arrangement  of  the  topics.  On  the  other  hand, 
however,  what  we  gain  is  a  growing  consciousness  on  the  part  of 
the  children  that  the  study  of  grammar  and  of  the  corrections 
based  upon  grammar  always  commences  with  the  largest  mass 
of  thought.  They  come  to  feel  that  the  idea  always  is  to  present 
to  a  reader,  with  a  minimum  of  strain  and  with  absolute  accu- 
racy, the  thoughts  that  are  in  the  mind  of  the  writer. 

The  child  should  criticize  his  work  from  three  points  of  view. 
In  arranging  an  outline  or  in  testing  the  value  of  the  develop- 
ment of  a  composition,  the  first  thing  is  to  be  sure  you  know 
what  you  want  the  composition  to  end  with.  It  is  the  final 
impression  that  is  left  in  the  mind  of  the  reader  that  determines 
what  effect  the  entire  composition  is  to  have  upon  him.  Every 
composition  should  be  written  because  the  writer  has  a  distinct 
message  to  give.  Unless  that  message  can  be  embodied  in  brief 
and  telling  form,  it  may  as  well  never  be  uttered.  Therefore, 
the  first  direction  of  the  attention  should  be  the  essence  of  the 
composition  as  it  is  to  be  expressed  in  the  concluding  paragraph. 
The  next  question  to  ask  is,  ''What  is  a  good  way  of  opening 
this  composition?"  If  we  wish  to  have  our  thoughts  reach  the 
field  of  their  real  influence,  we  must  be  sure  to  gain  the  atten- 
tion of  the  reader  or  listener.  It  is,  therefore,  a  matter  of  great 
importance  to  select  the  correct  method  of  opening  the  com- 
position. The  third  question  that  should  be  asked  is,  "Does 
the  composition  proceed  in  a  natural  way  from  the  opening  to 


GRAMMAR  —  FORMAL  STUDY  285 

the  conclusion?  "  If  we  are  sure  we  have  the  correct  introduc- 
tion, and  even  though  we  feel  confident  that  our  final  idea  is 
properly  expressed,  we  must  be  sure  that  the  reader  is  carried 
on  in  so  easy  and  logical  a  fashion  that  his  attention  never 
wanders. 

Second  week  —  The  second  large  topic  for  correction  should 
be  the  study  of  the  unity  of  the  paragraph.  The  notion  of  the 
topic  sentence  should  be  carefully  reviewed.  In  this  grade  it 
may  be  well  to  show  to  a  class  that  it  is  not  necessary  to  have 
the  very  first  sentence  give  the  topic  of  the  paragraph.  Usually 
one  of  the  first  three  sentences  should  give  this,  and  what  the 
children  have  already  learned  as  to  the  right  use  of  conjunctions 
will  help  them  make  their  transitional  sentences  more  effective. 

Third  week  —  The  third  topic  is  the  study  of  the  unity  of  the 
sentence.  The  important  point  to  be  drilled  upon  is  the  fact 
that  a  sentence  should  treat  of  one  idea,  should  tell  all  that  the 
writer  has  to  say  about  that  idea,  and  should  not  tell  anything 
more.  This  may  include  an  incidental  review  of  subject  and 
predicate. 

Fourth  week  —  The  study,  which  has  proceeded  thus  far 
from  the  composition  as  a  whole  through  the  paragraph  to  the 
sentence,  should  now  proceed  to  clauses.  In  a  general  way  the 
errors  will  be  of  two  kinds.  The  fourth  topic  takes  up  the  first 
of  these  kinds;  namely,  errors  in  position.  Four  principles 
may  be  developed  with  a  class  and  may  be  further  enforced  by 
reference  to  the  text-book.  First,  the  principle  of  clause  refer- 
ence; namely,  that  there  should  never  be  any  doubt  as  to  what 
a  clause  relates  to.  Secondly,  it  is  possible  to  keep  clause 
reference  clear  without  putting  a  clause  immediately  after 
the  word  modified.  This  is  particularly  true  of  the  adverbial 
clause,  though  it  is  less  true  of  the  adjective  clause.  This 
principle  will  at  once  lead  to  the  third;  namely,  that  a  clause 
may  be  placed  first  for  the  purpose  of  getting  variety  in  the 
introduction  of  sentences,   and  secondly  for  the  purpose  of 


286  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

maintaining  interest  until  the  end  of  the  sentence  is  reached. 
Fourth,  when  a  clause  is  not  of  great  importance  it  may  be  put 
in  a  parenthetical  construction.  The  examples  that  are  given 
of  this  kind  of  construction  should  be  carefully  selected  by  the 
teacher  since  it  is  the  use  of  the  parenthetical  construction  with 
too  great  freedom  that  is  the  cause  of  most  obscurities  in  the 
compositions  of  the  children  in  the  secondary  schools. 

Fifth  week  —  The  topic  is  the  second  which  grows  out  of 
the  study  of  the  clause.  It  was  said  that  the  study  of  the 
position  of  the  clause  is  the  first  of  the  two  topics.  The  second 
is  the  distinction  between  who  and  which  and  that.  It  is  prob- 
ably too  much  to  ask  a  class  fully  to  grasp  the  idea  of  the 
restrictive  and  the  additive  pronoun.  It  is  possible,  however, 
to  have  any  average  class  understand  the  fundamental  idea. 
Whenever  the  pronoun  who  or  which  is  used,  ask  yourself 
whether  you  can  use  and  he  or  and  that  instead  of  who  arid, 
and  it,  or  and  that  instead  of  which.  If  you  cannot  use  this 
equivalent  expression,  then  use  the  word  that.  The  pronoun 
that  is  used  whenever  you  want  to  distinguish  the  object  you 
are  speaking  of  from  something  else.  The  pronoun  which  is 
used  when  you  wish  to  give  some  additional  information  about 
the  word  modified  by  the  "  which "  clause.  In  the  sentence,  "I 
saw  the  boy  who  was  sitting  at  the  desk,"  there  is  but  one 
boy  thought  of.  "I  saw  him,"  and  "he  was  sitting  at  the 
desk."  When  I  say,  "I  saw  the  boy  that  was  sitting  at  the 
desk,"  I  mean  that  there  may  have  been  other  boys  whom  I 
did  not  see.  I  am  speaking  only  of  the  one  "that  was  sitting 
at  the  desk."  In  this  connection,  also,  there  should  be  a 
review  of  the  use  of  the  relative  pronoun  in  the  objective 
case,  even  in  the  instances  where  it  is  separated  from  its 
governing  word. 

Sixth  week  —  The  topic  in  a  way  grows  out  of  the  study  of 
the  clause  although  it  refers  more  definitely  to  the  study  of 
one  specific  part  of  speech.    It  takes  up  all  specific  conjunctions. 


GRAMMAR  — FORMAL  STUDY  287 

It  will  be  found  that  children  make  too  constant  use  of  what  we 
may  call  the  ''stock  conjunctions."  It  is  not  that  these  more 
specific  words  are  not  in  the  vocabulary  of  the  children.  It  is 
one  thing,  however,  for  a  word  to  be  understood  when  it  crosses 
one's  mental  vision  and  it  is  quite  another  to  have  an  active 
command  of  the  use  of  that  word.  It  is  for  the  purpose  of 
gaining  this  second  kind  of  control  that  this  topic  is  introduced. 
Pupils  should  be  led  to  use  however,  nevertheless,  stilly  and  other 
conjunctions  which  denote  finer  shades  of  distinction. 

Seventh  week  —  The  subject  is  the  study  of  phrase  reference. 
The  method  followed  is  to  a  large  extent  that  which  was  taken 
up  under  the  subject  of  clause  reference. 

Eighth  week  —  The  work  bears  the  same  relation  to  the 
seventh  that  the  sixth  does  to  the  fifth.  It  includes  the  correct 
use  of  prepositions.  It  will  be  found,  however,  that  the  text- 
book will  give  examples  not  alone  of  prepositions,  the  correct 
use  of  which  is  a  matter  of  judgment,  but  also  of  those  which 
are  demanded  by  conventional  usage.  For  instance,  the  use  of 
between  when  we  are  speaking  of  but  two,  and  of  among  when 
we  speak  of  more  than  two,  and  the  larger  principle  which 
calls  for  such  a  preposition  after  a  derivative  which  contains 
a  prepositional  prefix  as  is  implied  in  the  prefix  used  in  the 
formation  of  the  word.  For  example,  we  say  compare  with. 
When  we  say  compare  to  we  use  the  unexpected  preposition 
because  we  wish  to  give  an  entirely  different  color  to  our  mean- 
ing. We  say  "sympathy  with^^  and  the  other  expression,  "sym- 
pathy /or,"  which,  at  first  declared  incorrect,  has  now  come  to 
have  the  stamp  of  approval  from  some  of  our  best  writers, 
and  which  has  gradually  grown  to  carry  with  it  the  idea  of 
pitying  condescension  rather  than  mere  fellow  feeling,  which  is 
implied  in  the  expression  "sympathy  with^  A  study  of  the 
chapter  on  etymology  in  any  good  text-book  will  show  that  the 
preposition  which  comes  after  a  verb  or  a  noxm  is  in  most  cases 
that  impUed  in  the  prefix  used  in  that  verb  or  noun. 


288  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

Ninth  week  —  The  concord  of  the  verb  and  the  subject  should 
be  studied.  This  will  call  for  a  review  of  the  rules  to  be  found 
in  any  book  on  the  number  of  the  verb  when  the  subject  is 
singular,  when  it  is  plural,  when  we  have  several  subjects 
connected  by  and,  or  singular  subjects  connected  by  or,  when 
we  have  collective  nouns  which  at  times  convey  the  idea  of 
singularity  and  at  other  times  the  idea  of  plurality,  and  so  on. 
In  addition  there  should  be  careful  study  of  the  construction 
where  the  subject  is  singular  and  is  followed  by  a  phrase,  the 
principal  word  of  which  is  plural  and  immediately  precedes 
the  predicate.  The  tendency  in  all  such  constructions  is  to 
use  the  plural  form  of  the  verb,  the  mind  being  more  influ- 
enced by  the  close  proximity  of  the  principal  word  of  the 
prepositional  phrase  than  by  the  actual  relationship  between 
the  true  subject  and  its  predicate.  Thus  a  composition  may 
contain  such  an  expression  as  "One  of  us  are  going  to,"  etc. 
This  particular  form  should  be  studied  carefully  and  the  reason 
for  the  correction  should  be  discovered  by  the  pupil  after  refer- 
ence to  the  text-book. 

Tenth  week  —  This  should  be  given  up  to  a  study  of  the  con- 
cord of  pronoun  and  antecedent.  Most  of  the  material  for  this 
study  can  be  got  from  the  study  of  the  text. 

Eleventh  week  — The  topic  may  be  the  study  of  the  "hanging 
participle"  as  we  may  call  it;  that  is  to  say,  the  error  which  is 
involved  in  a  sentence  of  the  type,  "Entering  the  room,  a  beauti- 
ful statue  of  Jupiter  was  seen."  While  it  is  possible  to  find  the 
correction  of  this  error  in  the  ordinary  text-book,  it  may  be  well 
to  give  the  class  this  rule:  When  using  the  constriLction  which  we 
shall  call  the  ^^ hanging  participle^'  construction,  make  sure  that  the 
subject  of  the  main  verb  is  the  name  of  the  person  or  animal  doing 
the  action  implied  by  the  participle. 

Twelfth  week  —  We  may  take  up  the  study  of  an  adjective 
and  the  adverb.  Here  practically  all  the  work  can  be  given 
directly  from  the  grammar  text-book. 


GRAMMAR  — FORMAL  STUDY  289 

The  next  three  topics  deal  with  the  verb,  the  thirteenth 
having  reference  to  the  correct  use  of  the  past  and  the  perfect 
tense,  the  fourteenth  to  tense-sequence,  and  the  fifteenth  to  the 
right  use  of  shall  and  will.  Here,  as  with  the  study  of  the  ad- 
jective and  the  adverb,  the  principles  may  be  learned  by  the 
children  through  independent  reference  to  the  text-book. 

The  last  four  topics  have  reference  purely  to  form,  and  while 
they  constitute  an  important  part  of  the  correct  expression  of 
thought,  they  are  not  usually  included  under  the  study  of 
grammar.  Any  good  grammar,  however,  contains  the  rules  for 
the  correct  use  of  these  forms  and  the  pupil  should  learn  how 
to  find  in  the  text-book  rules  which  will  set  him  right  whenever 
he  is  in  doubt.  In  the  sixteenth  week  the  class  may  study  the 
period,  the  interrogation  point,  the  exclamation  mark,  the  semi- 
colon, the  colon,  the  dash.  In  the  seventeenth,  the  proper  use 
of  quotation  marks.  In  the  eighteenth,  the  study  of  the  semi- 
colon as  distinguished  from  the  comma;  and  in  the  nineteenth, 
the  study  of  the  comma  to  separate  words  in  series. 

This  suggested  review  of  the  grammar  from  the  standpoint  of 
the  errors  that  may  be  made  by  children  in  their  compositions 
and  for  the  purpose  of  training  the  children  to  an  intelligent  use 
of  the  text-book,  has  been  a  consistent  development  from  the 
study  of  these  errors  growing  out  of  the  conception  of  the 
composition  as  a  whole  through  the  study  of  the  paragraph, 
of  the  sentence,  of  the  clause,  of  the  phrase,  of  concords,  and  of 
individual  words  to  those  purely  formal  elements  which  are  a 
feature  only  of  written  work. 

Summary.  — The  work  in  grammar  should  grow  out  of  the  spoken 
and  written  work  of  the  pupUs,  and  should  find  its  immediate  appli- 
cation in  the  correction  of  errors  to  be  found  in  their  compositions 
and  in  their  speech.  A  principle  in  grammar  is  a  short  cut  in  cor- 
rection. The  motive  constantly  appealed  to  should  be  the  desire  of 
the  children  to  improve  their  earlier  composition  work  and  to  ration- 
alize the  corrections  suggested  by  the  teacher.    All  approach  to 


290  THE  TEACHING  OF  ENGLISH 

study  of  the  elements  of  a  sentence  should  be  from  the  side  of  the 
function  of  the  word  or  words.  The  thinking  done  by  the  children 
in  developing  a  principle  in  grammar  is  as  important  as  the  memoriz- 
ing of  the  principle  itself.  Hence,  the  method  of  development  should 
always  be  inductive.  In  addition  to  reviews  based  upon  dijQferent 
aspects  of  the  subject,  all  the  topics  may  be  gone  over  once  more  in 
connection  with  a  graded  course  in  the  correction  of  compositions. 
A  suggested  course,  logically  graded,  follows: 

1.  Sequence  of  topics  in  the  composition. 

2.  Paragraph  unity. 

3.  Sentence  unity. 

4.  Position  of  clauses. 

5.  Restrictive  and  additive  clauses. 

6.  Conjunctions. 

7.  Phrase  reference. 

8.  The  use  of  prepositions. 

9.  Concord  of  verb  and  subject. 

10.  Concord  of  pronoun  and  antecedent. 

11.  The  hanging  participle. 

12.  The  adjective  and  the  adverb. 

13.  Tense. 

14.  Tense  sequence. 

15.  Shall  and  will. 

16.  Punctuation  as  between  clauses  and  sentences. 

17.  Quotation  marks. 

18.  The  semicolon  as  distinguished  from  the  comma. 

19.  The  comma. 

The  last  four  topics  which  are  concerned  mainly  with  form  should 
be  taken  up  in  connection  with  the  grammatical  relations  which  they 
are  intended  to  indicate  to  the  eye. 


INDEX  BY   GRADES 

The  aim  of  this  index  is  to  enable  a  teacher  of  any  grade  to  refer  easily  to 
those  sections  of  the  book  which  will  help  her  in  her  class  work. 


First  Year  —  First  Half 

Reading  by  Pupils 

Underlying  principles,  7 

Content  of,  7  et  seq. 

Grouping  in,  10 

Cumulative  repetition,  10,  11 
Phonics 

Underlying  principles,  13 

Diacritical  marks,  13,  14 

Methods,  15-29 
Reading  to  Class 

Aims,  49 

Selection  of  story,  49,  50 

Method,  50-52 
Story  Telling 

Aims,  93 

Selection  of  stories,  93,  94>  97 

Method,  95,  96,  99 
Memory  Gems 

Underlying  principles,  108,  log 

Method,  113 


First  Year  —  Second  Half 

Reading  by  Pupils 

Underlying  principles,  7 

Content  of,  7  et  seq. 

Grouping  in,  10 

Ciimulative  repetition,  10,  11 
Phonics 

Underlying  principles,  13 

Diacritical  marks,  13,  14 

Methods,  15-29 
Reading  to  Class 

Aims,  49 

Selection  of  story,  49,  50 

Method,  50-52 


Story  Telling 

Aims,  93 

Selection  of  stories,  93,  94,  97 

Method,  95,  96,  99 
Memory  Gems 

Underlying  principles,  108,  109 

Method,  113 
Correction  of  Errors 

General  principles,  253-255 

Methods,  255-258 

Second  Year  —  First  Half 

Phonics 

Underlying  principles,  13 

Diacritical  marks,  13,  14 

Methods,  15-29 
Reading  by  the  Class 
Standards,  41,  42 

Aims,  43 

Methods,  44-48 
Reading  to  Class 

Aims,  49 

Selection  of  story,  49,  50 

Method,  50-52 
Story  Telling 

Aims,  93 

Selection  of  story,  93,  94,  98 

Method,  95,  96,  99 
Memory  Gems 

Underlying  principles,  108,  109 

Method,  113 
Spelling 

Underlying  principles,  119 

Selection  of  words,  119,  120 

Method,  120-130 
Correction  of  Errors 

General  principles,  253-255 

Method,  255-258 


292 


INDEX  BY  GRADES 


Second  Year  —  Second  Half 

Phonics 

Underlying  principles,  13 

Diacritical  marks,  13,  14 

Methods,  15-29 
Reading  by  Class 

Standards,  41,  42 

Aims,  43 

Methods,  44-48 
Reading  to  Class 

Aims,  49 

Selection  of  story,  49,  50 

Method,  50-52 
Story  Telling 

Aims,  93 

Selection  of  story,  93,  94,  98 

Method,  95,  96,  99 
Memory  Gems 

Underlying  principles,  108,  109 

Method,  113 
Spelling 

Underlying  principles,  119 

Selection  of  words,  119,  120 

Method,  120-130 
Correction  of  Errors 

General  principles,  253-255 

Third  Year  —  First  Half 

Phonics 

Underlying  principles,  13 

Diacritical  marks,  13,  14 

Methods,  15-29 
Reading  by  Class 

Standards,  41,42 

Aims,  43 

Methods,  44-48 
Reading  to  Class 

Aims,  49 

Selection  of  story,  49,  50 

Method,  50^52 
Story  Telling 

Aims,  93 

Selection  of  story,  93,  94,  98 

Method,  95,  96 
Memory  Gems 

Underlying    principles,    108,    109, 
III,  113 

Aims,  no,  III 


Spelling 

Underlying  principles,  119 

Selection  of  words,  119,  120 

Method,  120-130 
Dictation 

Underlying  principles,  131,  132 

Principle  of  selection,  133 

Method,  133-140 
Composition 

Underlying  principles,  141-147 

Model  letters,  173 
Correction  of  Errors 

General  principles,    253-255 

Methods,  255-259 

Third  Year  —  Second  Half 

Phonics 

Underlying  principles,  13 

Diacritical  marks.  13,  14 

Methods,  15-29 
Reading  by  Class 

Standards,  41,  42 

Aims,  43 

Methods,  44-48 
Reading  to  Class 

Aims,  49 

Selection  of  story,  49,  50 

Method,  50-52 
Story  Telling 

Aims,  93 

Selection  of  story,  93,  94 

Method,  95,  96 
Memory  Gems 

Underlying    principles,    108,    109, 
111-113 

Aims,  no,  in 
Spelling 

Underlying  principles,  119 

Selection  of  words,  119,  120 

Method,  120-130 
Dictation 

Underlying  principles,  131,  132 

Principle  of  selection,  133 

Method,  133-140 
Composition 

Underlying  principles,  141-147 

Model  letters,  174 
Correction  of  Errors 

General  principles,  253-255 

Methods,  255-259 


INDEX  BY  GRADES 


293 


Fourth  Year  —  First  Half 

Overcoming  Defects  in  Speech 
Underlying  principles,  30 
Aims,  31,  32 
Methods,  32-40 
Reading  by  Class 
Standards,  41,  42 
Teaching  of  technique,  42,  43 
Aims,  43 
Methods,  44-48 
Reading  to  Class 
Aims,  49 

Selection  of  story,  49,  50 
Method,  50-52 
Story  Telling 
Aims,  93 

Selection  of  story,  93,  94,  98 
Method,  95,  96,  99-107 
Memory  Gems 

Underlying  principles,  108,  109, 

III,  113 
Aims,  no.  III 
Spelling 

Underlying  principles,  119 
Selection  of  words,  119,  120 
Method,  120-130 
Dictation 

Underlying  principles,  131,  132 
Principle  of  selection,  133 
Method,  133-140 
Composition 

Underlying  principles,  141-147 
Selection  of  Models 
Letters,  149 
Description,  151 
Narration,  153 
Exposition,  155 

Study  of  Models,  157,  158,  160 
Letter  Writing 

General  principles,  163-166 
Subjects,  166,  167 
Method,  168-173,  175,  176 
Model  letters,  177,  178 
Notes,  194 
Correction,  195,  196 
Narration 

General  principles,  198 
General  method,  199-203 
Models,  203   204 
Notes,  208 


Description 

Models,  211 

Notes,  215-217 
Exposition 

Models,  222 

Notes,  225 

Correction,  227-235 

General  sviggestions,  236-241 
Grammar 

General  principles,  242-252 
Correction  of  errors 

General  principles,    253-255,   261, 
262 

Selection,  259 

Formal  study,  262-268 

Fourth  Year  —  Second  Half 

Overcoming  Defects  in  Speech 

Underlying  principles,  31 

Aims,  21,  32 

Methods,  32-40 
Reading  by  Class 

Standards,  41,  42 

Teaching  of  technique,  42,  43 

Aims,  43 

Methods,  44-48 
Reading  to  Class 

Aims,  49 

Selection  of  story,  49,  50 

Method,  50-52 
Story  Telling 

Aims,  93 

Selection  of  story,  93,  94,  98 

Method,  95,  96,  99,  107 
Memory  Gems 

Underlying    principles,    108,    109, 
111-113 

Aims,  no,  in 
Spelling 

Underlying  principles,  119 

Selection  of  words,  119,  120 

Method,  120-130 
Dictation 

Underlying  principles,  131,  132 

Principle  of  selection,  133 

Method,  133-140 
Composition 

Underlying  principles,  144-147 
Selection  of  models 

Letters,  149 


294 


INDEX  BY  GRADES 


Composition 

Selection  of  models 

Description,  151 

Narration,  154 

Exposition,  155 

Study  of  models,  157,  158,  160 
Letter  Writing 

General  principles,  163-166 

Subjects,  166,  167 

Method,  168-173,  175,  176 

Model  letters,  178,  179 

Notes,  194 

Correction,  195,  196 
Narration 

General  principles,  198 

General  Method,  199-203 

Models,  204 

Notes,  208 
Description 

Models,  212 

Notes,  217-219 
Exposition 

Models,  222 

Notes,  225,  226 

Correction,  227-235 

General  suggestions,  236-241 
Grammar 

General  principles,    242-252,    26] 
262 
Correction  of  Errors 

General  principles,  253-255 

Selection,  259 

Formal  study,  268-271 

Fifth  Year  —  First  Half 

Overcoming  Defects  in  Speech 

Underlying  principles,  30 

Aims,  31,  32 

Methods,  32-40 
Reading  by  Class 

Standards,  41,  42 

Teaching  of  technique,  42,  43 
Aims,  43 

Methods,  44-48 
Reading  to  Class 

Aims,  49 

Selection  of  story,  49,  50 

Method,  50-52 
Story  Telling 

Aims,  93 


Selection  of  story,  93,  94,  98 

Method,  95,  96,  99-107 
Memory  Gems 

Underlying    principles,    108,    109, 
III,  113 

Aims,  no.  III 

"The  Village  Blacksmith,"  113-116 
Spelling 

Underlying  principles,  119 

Selection  of  words,  119,  120 

Method,  120-130 
Dictation 

Underlying  principles,  131,  132 

Principles  of  selection,  133 

Method,  133-140 
Composition 

Underlying  principles,  141-147 
Selection  of  models 

Letters,  149 

Description,  152 

Narration,  154 

Exposition,  155 

Study  of  models,  158,  159 
Letter  Writing 

General  principles,  163-166 

Subjects,  166,  167 

Method,  168-173,  175,  176 

Model  letters,  180-182 

Notes,  194 

Correction,  185,  196 
Narration 

General  principles,  198 

General  method,  199-203 

Models,  204,  205 

Notes,  208,  209 
Description 

Models,  212,  213 

Notes,  219,  220 

Correction,  227-235 

General  suggestions,  236-241 
Grammar 

General  principles,  242-252 
Correction  of  Errors 

General  principles,  253-255 

Selection,  260 

Formal  study,  271-273 

Fifth  Year  —  Second  Half 

Overcoming  Defects  in  Speech 
Underlying  principles,  30 


INDEX  BY  GRADES 


295 


Aims,  31,  32 

Methods,  32-40 
Reading  by  Class 

Standards,  41,  42 

Teaching  of  technique,  42,  43 

Aims,  43 

Methods,  44-48 
Reading  to  Class 

Aims,  49 

Selection  of  story,  49,  50 

Method,  50-52 
Story  Telling 

Aims,  93 

Selection  of  story,  93,  94,  98 

Method,  95,  96,  99-107 
Memory  Gems 

Underlying    principles,    108,    109, 
111-113 

Aims,  no.  III 

"The   Village    Blacksmith,"    113- 
116 
Spelling 

Underlying  principles,  119 

Selection  of  words,  119,  120 

Method,  120-130 
Dictation 

Underlying  principles,  131,  132 

Principle  of  selection,  133 

Method,  133-140 
Composition 

Underlying  principles,  141-147 
Selection  of  Models 

Letters,  150 

Description,  152 

Narration,  154 

Exposition,  155 

Study  of  models,  158,  159,  160 
Letter  Writing 

General  principles,  163-166 

Subjects,  166,  167 

Method,  168-173,  175,  176 

Model  letters,  182-184 

Notes,  194 

Correction,  195,  196 
Narration 

General  principles,  198 

General  method,  199-203 

Models,  205,  206 

Notes,  209 
Description 

Models,  213 


Notes,  220 
Exposition 

Models,  223 

Notes,  226 

Correction,  227-235 

General  suggestions,  236-241 
Grammar 

General  principles,  242-252 
Correction  of  Errors 

General  principles,  253-255 

Selection,  260 

Formal  study,  273-275 

Sixth  Year  —  First  Half 

Overcoming  Defects  in  Speech 

Underlying  principles,  30 

Aims,  31,  32 

Methods,  32-40 
Reading  by  Class 

Standards,  41,  42 

Teaching  of  technique,  42,  43 

Aims,  43 

Methods,  44-48 
Reading  to  Class 

Aims,  49 

Selection  of  story,  49,  50 

Method,  50-52 
Story  Telling 

Aims,  93 

Selection  of  story,  93,  94,  98 

Method,  95,  96,  99-107 
Memory  Gems 

Underlying    principles,    io8,    109, 
III,  113 

Aims,  no.  III 

"The   Village   Blacksmith,"    113- 
116 

"Gettysburg  Address,"  116,  117 
Spelling 

Underlying  principles,  119 

Selection  of  words,  119,  120 

Method,  120-130 
Dictation 

Underlying  principles,  131,  132 

Principle  of  selection,  133 

Method,  133-140 
Composition 

Underlying  principles,  141-147 
Selection  of  Models 

Letters,  150 


296 


INDEX  BY  GRADES 


Composition 

Selection  of  Models 

Description,  152 

Narration,  154 

Exposition,  155 

Study  of  models,  158,  160,  161 
Letter  Writing 

General  principles,  163-166 

Subjects,  166,  167 

Method,  168-173,  175,  176 

Model  letters,  184,  185 

Notes,  195 

Correction,  195,  196 
Narration 

General  principles,  198 

General  method,  199-203 

Models,  206,  207 

Notes,  209 
Description 

Models,  312,  214 

Notes,  220 
Exposition 

Models,  223,  224 

Notes,  226 

Correction,  227-235 

General  suggestions,  236-241 
Grammar 

General  principles,  242-252 
Correction  of  Errors 

General  principles,  253-255 

Selection,  260 

Formal  study,  275-279 

Sixth  Year  —  Second  Half 

Overcoming  Defects  in  Speech 

Underlying  principles,  30 

Aims,  31,  32 

Methods,  32-40 
Reading  by  Class 

Standards,  41,  42 

Teaching  of  technique,  42,  43 

Aims,  43 

Methods,  44-48 
Reading  to  Class 

Aims,  49 

Selection  of  story,  49,  50 

Method,  50-52 
Story  Telling 

Aims,  93 

Selection  of  story,  93,  94,  98 

Method,  95,  96,  99-107 


Memory  Gems 

Underlying    principles,    108,    109, 
111-113 

Aims,  no.  III 

"The   Village   Blacksmith,"    113- 
116 

"  Gettysburg  Address,"  116-117 
Spelling 

Underlying  principles,  119 

Selection  of  words,  119,  120 

Method,  120-130 
Dictation 

Underlying  principles,  131,  132 

Principle  of  selection,  133 

Method,  133-140 
Composition 

Underliyng  principles,  141-147 
Selection  of  Models 

Letters,  150 

Description,  152 

Narration,  154 

Exposition,  156 

Study  of  models,  158,  160,  i6i 
Letter  Writing 

General  principles,  163-166 

Subjects,  166,  167 

Method,  168-173,  i75f  176 

Model  letters,  184,  185 

Notes,  195 

Correction,  195,  196 
Narration 

General  principles,  198 

General  method,  199-203 

Models,  207 

Notes,  209 
Description 

Models,  215,  216 

Notes,  220,  221 
Exposition 

Models,  224,  225 

Notes,  226 

Correction,  227-235 

General  suggestions,  236-241 
Grammar 

General  principles,  242-252 
Correction  of  Errors 

General  principles,  253-255 

Selection,  260 

Formal  study,  279,  281 


INDEX  BY  GRADES 


297 


Seventh  Year  —  First  Half 

Overcoming  Defects  in  Speech 

Underlying  principles,  30 

Aims,  31,  32 

Methods,  32-40 
Study  of  the  Masterpiece 

Underlying  principles,  53-56 
!        Selection,  56,  57 

General  method,  57-61 
Selected  Studies 

Courtship  of  Miles  Standish,  61- 
73 

Enoch  Arden,  75-81 

Franklin's  Autobiography,   82-85 

Rip  Van  Winkle,  85-92 
Memory  Gems 

Underlying    principles,    108,    109, 
III,  113 

Aims,  no,  in 
Spelling 

Underlying  principles,  119 

Selection  of  words,  119,  120 

Method,  120-130 
Dictation 

Underlying  principles,  131,  132 

Principle  of  selection,  133 

Method,  133-140 
Composition 

Underlying  principles,  141-147 
Letter  Writing 

General  principles,  163-166 

Subjects,  166,  167 

Method,  168-173,  i75»  176 

Models,  186-194 

Correction,  227-235 

General  suggestions,  236-241 
Grammar 

General  principles,  242-252 

Formal  study,  281,  282 

Seventh  Year  —  Second  Half 

Overcoming  Defects  in  Speech 

Underlying  principles,  30 

Aims,  31,  32 

Methods,  32-40 
Study  of  the  Masterpiece 

Underlying  principles,  53-56 

Selection,  56,  57 

General  method,  57-61 


Selected  Studies 

Courtship  of  Miles  Standish,  61- 
73 

Enoch  Arden,  75-81 

Franklin's  Autobiography,  82-85 

Rip  Van  Winkle,  85-92 
Memory  Gems 

Underlying    principles,    108,    109, 
111-113 

Aims,  no,  in 
Spelling 

Underlying  principles,  119 

Selection  of  words,  119,  120 

Method,  120-130 
Dictation 

Underlying  principles,  131,  132 

Principle  of  selection,  133 

Method,  133-140 
Composition 

Underlying  principles,  141-147 
Letter  Writing 

General  principles,  163-166 

Subjects,  166,  167 

Method,  168-173,  175,  176 

Models,  186-194 

Correction,  227-235 
General  suggestions,  236-241 
Grammar 

General  principles,  242-252 

Formal  study,  282,  283 

Eighth  Year  —  First  Half 

Overcoming  Defects  in  Speech 

Underlying  principles,  30 

Aims,  31,  32 

Methods,  32-40 
Study  of  the  Masterpiece 

Underlying  principles,  53-56 

Selection,  56,  57 

General  method,  57-61 
Selected  Studies 

Courtship  of  Miles  Standish,  61- 
73 

Enoch  Arden,  75-81 

FrankUn's  Autobiography,  82-85 

Rip  Van  Winkle,  85-92 
Memory  Gems 

Underlying    principles,    108,    109, 
III,  113 

Aims,  no,  in 


298 


INDEX  BY  GRADES 


Spelling 

Underlying  principles,  119 

Selection  of  words,  119,  120 

Method,  120-130 
Dictation 

Underiying  principles,  131,  132 

Principle  of  selection,  133 

Method,  133-140 
Composition 

Underiying  principles,  141-147 
Letter  Writing 

General  principles,  163-166 

Subjects,  166,  167 

Method,  168-173,  17s,  176 

Models,  186-194 

Correction,  227-235 

General  suggestions,  236-241 
Grammar 

General  principles,  242-252 

Formal  study,  283-290 

Eighth  Year  —  Second  Half 

Overcoming  Defects  in  Speech 
Underlying  principles,  30 
Aims,  31,  32 
Methods,  32-40 

Study  of  the  Masterpiece 
Underlying  principles,  53-56 
Selection,  56,  57 
General  method,  57-61 


Selected  Studies 

Courtship  of  Miles  Stan  dish,  61- 

Enoch  Arden,  75-81 

Franklin's  Autobiography,  82-85 

Rip  Van  Winkle,  85-92 
Memory  Gems 

Underlying    principles,    108,    109, 
111-113 

Aims,  no,  III 
Spelling 

Underlying  principles,  119 

Selection  of  words,  119,  120 

Method,  120-130 
Dictation 

Underlying  principles,  131,  132 

Principle  of  selection,  133 

Method,  133-140 
Composition 

Underlying  principles,  141-147 
Letter  Writing 

General  principles,  163-166 

Subjects,  166,  167 

Method,  168-173,  175,  176 

Models,  186-194 

Correction,  227-235 

General  suggestions,  236-241 
Grammar 

General  principles,  242-252 

Formal  study,  283-290 


INDEX 


Composition 

Correction,  195,  196,  227  et  seq. 

Code,  234 
'Devices,  236,  241 
Means  of  self-expression,  141,  142 
Method,  143-147  inc. 

Discussion  of,  143-147  inc. 
In  Description,  215-221 
In  Exposition,  225-226 
In  Letter  Writing,  164-167,  186 
In  Narration,  198-203 
Suggestions,  146,  147 
Theory  of,  141,  142 
Models,  nature  of,  4th,  5th,  and  6th 
years 
Description,  151,  152 
Exposition,  155,  156 
Letter  writing,  149,  150 
Narration,  153,  154 
How  used,  1 57-161 
Description,  215-221 
Exposition,  225,  226 
Letter  writing,  169-172,  196 
Narration,  199-203,  208,  209 
Study  of, 

Graded  Selection,  4th,  5th,  and 

6th  years,   149-156 
Reasons  for,  148 
Model  Descriptions,  21 1-2 15 
Model  Expositions,  222-225 
Model  Letters,  173-194 
Model  Narrations,  203-207 
Rewriting,  201 

Subject,  selection  of,  142,  143 
Technique,  144,  145 
Treatment,   comparison  of  former 
and  present  methods,  141,  142 
Concert  Work 

In  Memory  Gems,  109 
In  Phonics,  21,  22 
Correct  Speech 
Drill  on  Common  Errors,  227-230 
Real  test  of,  227 


Development    of    taste    in    children's 

reading,  49 
Diacritical  Marks 
Their  use  in  teaching  reading  decried, 

14,  15 
Their  substitute  —  sight  words  lead- 
ing to  phonics,  15,  19,  20 
Their  proper  use,  31 
Dictation 

Characteristics  of,  131,  132 
Choice  of  selections,  132,  133 
Content,  interest  therein  not  to  over- 
shadow formal  element,  132 
Forms  of,  134 
Method,  134-136 
Methods  of  correction,  136,  137 
Model  lessons,  138,  139 
Necessity  for,  131,  132 
"Enoch  Arden" 

Detailed  method- whole,  75-81 
Enunciation,  Faulty 

Causes  and  treatment,  22,  23 
Ethical  Principle 
Necessary   in   masterpieces   studied, 
55,  56 
Franklin's  Autobiography 

Detailed  method-whole,  82-85 
Grammar 
Development  in  its  teaching,    242- 

248 
Errors  in  common  speech 

Basis  for  grammatical  work,  248, 

250 
Causes  classified,  248-250 
Correction,  method 

ist  and  2nd  years,  255-258 
3rd  year,  258 
4th  year,  259 
5th  year,  260 
6th  year,  260 
Formal  study 
In  Fourth  Year  —  ist  half,  262-268 
In  Fourth  year —  2nd  half,  268-271 


300 


INDEX 


Grammar 

Formal  study 
In  Fifth  year — ist  half,  271-273 
In  Fifth  year  —  2nd  half,  273-275 
In  Sixth  year —  ist  half,  275-279 
In  Sixth  year —  2nd  half,  279-281 
In  Seventh  year  —  ist  half,  281-282 
In  Seventh  year  —  2nd  half,  282- 

283 
In  Eighth  year,  283-289 
Mode  of  approach,  262-268 
Usual  method  incorrect,  261 
In  Chinese  education,  242,  243 
In  Roman  education,  243,  244 
In  Middle  Ages,  245,  246 
In  Modern  education,  246,  248 
Method,  general  principle,  248 
Method,  specific,  262-283 

Group-Work 

Modern  reading  method  demands 
it,  10 

Inductive  Development 

Not  always  to  be  employed,  139 

Masterpieces 

Not  to  be  pharaphrased,  58 
Study  of 

Method,  57-59 

Necessity  for  culture,  and  knowl- 
edge of  subject-matter  on  part 
of  teacher,  60,  61 
Place  in  elementary  schools,  53 
True  function,  55 
Value  of,  53 
Warnings     in     connection     with, 

53-55 

Meaning  of  Words 

Inseparable  from  spelling,  119 
Method  of  teaching,  125,  126 

Memory  Gems 
FimctiOn  of,  108 
Method  of  teaching,  111-118 
Principles  of  selection,  109-112 

Methods 
In  various  subjects  (See  index  under 
subject  in  question). 

"Miles  Standish" 
Detailed  method- whole,  61-71 

Models,   for  composition  study,  4th, 
5  th,  and  6th  years 
Description,  1 51-15  2,  21 1-2 15 
Exposition,  155-156,  222-225 


Letter  writing,  149,  150.  i73-i7S»  i77- 
194 
Narration,  153,  154,  203-207 
Method  of  use,   157-161,   194,   201, 
202,  208,  209,  216-221,  225,  226 
Oral  Reproduction  of  Stories 
Aim,  93 
Details    of    method    and    devices, 

95-107 
Principles  of  selection,  93,  94 
Suggestions  in  method,  95,  96 
Perception  Cards 

Use  in  reading,  16,  17 
Use  in  spelling,  120,  122  et  seq. 
Phonics 

Concert  work  to  be  generally  avoided, 
21,  22 
Devices,  23-27 
Drill  on  blend,  23,  24 
Elements   from   sight   words,    15- 

17 
New  combinations  of  elements,  17- 

20 
Suggested   exercises    for    interme- 
diate grades,  33  et  seq. 
Work  not  to  end  in  third  year,  30 
Reading 

Change  in  methods  of  teaching,  1-4 
Faulty  —  possible  causes,  41 
For  content 
Outline  of  model  lesson  treatment 
in  intermediate  grades,  43-47 
Formal  drill 
Necessity  for  at  some  time  in 

course,  7 
Neglected    through    overemphasis 

on  interesting  content,  6 
Motivation   furnished   by   modern 
method,  7 
Lesson  —  aim  necessary,  41 
Oral 
Necessary  quaUties,  31 
Common  defects  and  their   treat- 
ment, 31-33 
Primary 

Aim  —  defined,  13 

Aim  —  how  attained,  14-20 

Modem  methods 

Based  upon  (i)  Interest  in  the 
familiar  (2)  Love  of  rhythmic 
cadence,  8,  9 


INDEX 


301 


I 


Teaching  of,  in  large  cities  —  com- 
plexity of  problem,  i 
Technique 

Emphasis  on  its  importance  causes 
certain  methods,  3 

Formal     work     in     intermediate 
grades,  42,  43 

Possible  neglect  through  too  much 
stress  upon  content,  6 

Teacher's  model  for  imitation,  42, 

,43 
To  class 
Aims,  49 
Method,  49 

Nature  of  selections,  49 
"Rip  Van  Winkle" 

Detailed  method-whole,  82-92 
Spelling 

Cumulative  syllabic  method,  124, 
126 


Devices,  127-129 

Fimdamental  principles  in  teaching 
of,  1 21-122 

Lessons  —  frequency  and  duration, 
120  —  method,  120,  122  et  seq. 

Reasons  for  teaching  meanings  con- 
currently, 119 

Syllabication,  123-125 

Words,    bases   of    selection,    119, 
120 

Written,  correction  of,  126,  128 
Syllabication 

Not  a  part  of  expression,  126 

When  and  how  to  use,  123,  124 

Syllabic   method  in  oral  spelling, 
124,  125 
Technique 

Composition,  144,  145 

Reading,  2,  3,  7,  42,  43 


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